A New Dawn
by Dark Disaster
Summary: There are two new mutants who show up at Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted, but what exactly are they hiding? Do Gambit, Rogue, Bobby and John know more than they let on about their new colleagues? Slash.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Here's another Harry/Gambit story. I couldn't stop thinking about this plot so I decided to write it. Please read and review! ~Dark Disaster

Disclaimer: I don't own anything recognizable.

Betrayed

Pairings: Harry/Gambit, Bill Weasley/Fleur Delacour, Luna/? ---Poll on my profile page

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_Thump, Thump._

_What?_

_He was alive._

Emerald green eyes opened. Curled the fingers of his right hand. Then his left. Then his feet. Now arms and legs.

_He was alive._

Harry groaned as he pushed his battered body off the ground and looked around. There were dead bodies _everywhere_. Most of them wore the black robes and the Dark Mark of Voldemort's Death Eaters, but not all of them.

He started walking towards Hogwarts when he saw a blonde blur rushing towards him. He had his wand out and a curse on his lips before he realized who it was. _Luna_.

"Harry! Thank Merlin you're alright! I was afraid the Horned Snorlack had killed you for good." Luna cried out throwing her arms around him in a desperate hug.

"Nah you know me Luna. If I can survive the killing curse two times, a third one isn't going to do much damage." Harry remarked slightly sarcastic.

"Old Snake Face is gone for good though right?" Harry asked just to make sure. The past few hours since coming back from King's Cross Station after he had let Voldemort kill him were hazy and he couldn't remember much.

"Oh most definitely. Voldemort destroyed the Horcrux when he shot the Killing curse at you and since that was the last one he was mortal. I used Fiendfyre to burn what was left of his body after your duel just to make absolutely sure he wasn't coming back." Luna reassured him.

"How…how many did we lose?" Harry asked hesitantly. He was afraid to know, but at the same time he needed to put faces to the dead bodies that littered the once pristine school grounds.

The smile fell off of Luna's face. "A lot of people died, Harry. Mad-Eye, Kingsley, Fred, George, Charlie, Percy, Tonks, Remus, Seamus, Dean, Cho Chang, Emmeline Vance, Professor Snape, Professor Sprout, at least half of the Aurors that came to help and a quarter of the sixth and seventh years." She said.

Harry's heart sank to his stomach. _Not Tonks and Remus. Teddy was an orphan now._

"McGonagall's Headmistress now and Madame Pomfrey is using the Great Hall as a makeshift Infirmary to treat the wounded." Luna explained.

"Ron, Hermione! Thank Merlin you're alright." Harry cried out echoing Luna's earlier statement. His two best mates were alright.

"Yeah _we're _alright." Came Ron's odd reply. Hermione didn't say anything.

But Harry ignored them because at that moment Bill woke up. "Bill, how are you feeling?" Harry asked softly.

"Hey Harry. I'm okay considering Greyback tried to take a chunk out of my face." Bill laughed hoarsely.

Harry felt a smile stretch over his face to know that at least two of the Weasley boys had survived before remembering that there were four who wouldn't be coming home.

"Don't worry Harry. Madame Pomfrey says I'll have a scarred face since magic doesn't seem to work against werewolf-inflicted wounds, but at least I won't have to worry about turning into a hairy beast on the full moon." Bill said trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

Harry let out an involuntary chuckle. It had finally hit him that the war was over and he could finally have the life that he wanted.

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Harry sent up a quick prayer before he slowly opened the thick Ministry sealed envelope. He and what remained of the seventh year Gryffindors were about to find out the results of their Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. The war had been over for a few months now, and while everyone was ecstatic something had changed. Harry couldn't quite decide what it was, but he decided that it would be someone else's problem from now on and threw himself into his studies.

He had received a lot of specialized training for the war, but he wanted to be sure he got the grades Madame Pomfrey said she wanted if she was going to accept him as an apprentice. Harry had decided that he had seen enough fighting to last two lifetimes so he was going to do something that would help people and was going to train to become a Medi-Wizard.

Of course he wasn't stupid and therefore had not said a word of this to anyone, not even his two best mates. There were a lot of expectations surrounding the Savior of the Wizarding World and he was planning on shattering every one of them come graduation which, incidentally, was tomorrow.

"Hah! I got all Outstandings for the nine classes I took!" Hermione crowed to no one's surprise.

"I got 4 Outstandings and 4 Exceeds Expectations." Came Ron's voice. Now that was a surprise, but then again maybe being harped on by Hermione for the last seven years had rubbed off on Ron so that he actually managed to learn something.

Harry just studied his results in stunned silence. Was the Ministry mistaken?

"Harry what did you get?" Hermione asked, before snatching the paper out of his hand when he didn't respond in two seconds.

The smile slid of Hermione's face.

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_We are pleased to present you with your results for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests. _

_Potions- O_

_History of Magic- O_

_Care of Magical Creatures- O_

_Arithmancy- O_

_Ancient Runes- O_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts- OO*_

_Charms- O_

_Transfiguration- O_

_Divination- O_

_As your involvement in the Final Battle against the Dark Lord has shown, it is fairly obvious that you have an advanced grasp on the knowledge behind the skills learned in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Your practical test, as well as the Final Battle, demonstrated this without a doubt, and the answers on the theory portion of the test were Mastery-level answers. Therefore we are pleased to inform you that you have received 10 Outstandings, a feat accomplished only by two other wizards in the past three centuries. Our sincerest congratulations,_

_Madeline Aulbright_

_Head of the Wizarding Examinations Authority _

Harry smiled to himself as he realized this meant he got the grades Madame Pomfrey required to accept him as an apprentice.

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_Fashback_

_ "Madame Pomfrey?" Harry asked quietly._

_ "Mr. Potter? Its only the first day of classes, are you already injured?"_

_ "No Madame. I do have a question for you though." Harry replied smiling._

_ "What is it?" the Medi-Witch asked giving her favorite patient her full attention._

_ "How did you become a Medi-Witch?" Harry asked._

_ Madame Pomfrey studied him for a long moment. "That's not a question I'd expect coming from you Mr. Potter." _

_ "I know everyone expects me to become an Auror and marry Ginny, but no one thought to ask me whether I've changed my mind. The only time Professor McGonagall has asked me what I want to do with my life I told her an Auror because I didn't know that there were other options. Now I know I don't want to spend the rest of my life fighting when I've done that practically my whole life." Harry replied eyes dark with anger._

_ "And Miss Weasley?" _

_ "I don't know if that's what I want anymore." _

_ "Well, Mr. Potter, you can apply to St. Mungo's to work with a group of Healers in a particular field, or you can apprentice to a specific healer where you will study with them for two years, learning the general healing arts and then take your certification tests with the Ministry as a general Healer. Usually by that time you know if you want to concentrate on a specific field and then you would go on to apprentice for another year or two with a specialist in that field or you could get a job as a general Medi-Wizard." Madame Pomfrey replied._

_ Harry contemplated what she told him for a few minutes. "Would you consider taking me as an apprentice Madame Pomfrey?" he asked._

_ Madame Pomfrey looked startled for a moment and then studied him. "Is there a particular reason you would want to apprentice with me?" _

_ Harry looked sheepish. "Well for one you're the only Medi-Witch I know personally and I know you wouldn't treat me any differently for being the Savior and all that crap. Plus Hogwarts is the only home I've ever known and I would do anything to stay here as long as possible." Harry answered honestly._

_ The Medi-Witch grinned. "Then I'll have you know I expect you to get Outstandings on your Transfiguration and Charms portions of the N.E.W.T.S and at least an Exceeds Expectations on your Potions portion. If you get those grades I'll take you on as an apprentice and if not I'll help you get an apprenticeship with another qualified healer." Madame Pomfrey said sternly._

_ Harry flashed her a brilliant smile before darting forward and giving her a hug. Laughing he called out a "Thanks Madame Pomfrey!" before darting out the door._

_ Poppy only shook her head. "Potters." _

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*SMACK*

Harry was startled out his memories when his face snapped to the left, his face stinging where Hermione's hand had slapped him.

The common room fell silent.

"What did you do that for Hermione?" Harry asked in shock his hand coming up to cradle his stinging cheek.

"What's your problem Potter? Everyone knows I'm the smartest witch in this entire school! If it wasn't for me you would be failing every single class you've ever taken! If it wasn't for your dumb luck you never would've survived to see your seventh year let alone the Final Battle!" Hermione screamed.

Funny how a room can fall so silent that it almost seems noisy.

"Now I suppose they're just going to name you Head Auror without making you go through training when I deserve to be Head Auror!" Ron chimed in.

"What do you mean deserve?" Harry asked still in shock from Hermione's outburst.

"If you had died like the good pawn you are supposed to be I would be able to be Head Auror as your best friend and Hermione would get a top position in the Ministry and we wouldn't have to deal with you ever again. Instead we have to watch as you become the next Dark Lord!" Ron yelled, raging against Harry's very existence.

"For your information I'm not planning on becoming an Auror and it will be a cold day in hell before I let you pathetic fools get anything or go anywhere by using my name." Harry snarled before storming out of the tower leaving behind two fuming fake friends.

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"How dare those two pathetic excuses for human beings try and use me to further their own ambitions which they obviously can't get on their own!" Harry raged to himself as he stormed down the castle stairs. "Am I really that despicable that my supposed best friends would want me dead?" Harry asked softly to himself.

Harry paused to consider this before deciding that Ron and Hermione were just jealous good-for-nothings. Only his seeker reflexes allowed him to catch the vial that flew out of Ginny's hands as they collided into each other.

"Oh Harry! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." Ginny apologized as Harry helped her up.  
"Its okay Ginny, I wasn't exactly paying attention either. What's this?" He asked holding out the vial to her. He was surprised when she snatched it from him a scared look coming into her eyes.

"It's a potion Mum sent me for…for female problems." Ginny said, blushing.

"Oh." Harry said articulately, cheeks flushed red.

"Actually Harry I wanted to talk to you about, well, about us." Ginny said.

_Oh no._ Harry could already tell where this was going. "Not now Ginny. I just got into a fight with Ron and Hermione and I'm not ready to get into another discussion just yet." Harry said hoping to end a fight before it even started.

"But Harry it's been almost three months since the Dark Lord's defeat and you still haven't proposed to me!" Ginny said, stomping her foot.

"Look Ginny I'm tired and not in the mood for this. I want to make sure I have a career before I even think about settling down with a family. We'll talk about this some other time." Harry said dashing down the stairs towards the dungeons hoping that she wouldn't follow him.

A shriek of outrage assured him that he'd gotten away this time.

"Dear Merlin I hope that wasn't Amortentia in her hand." Harry said to himself. "Not even Ginny's that desperate to become Mrs. Potter, is she?" He paused to consider his own rhetorical question. "Please tell me she isn't that desperate. No, not Ginny." Harry said to himself as he continued walking. _However from now on I'll ask Dobby to make and deliver my food personally and I won't accept anything to eat or drink from Ginny. Just in case._

He had realized earlier that year that he wasn't in love with Ginny, not the way she wanted, but she was still a good friend and he didn't want to lose that friendship over a teenage crush.

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Harry gave the password to the portrait guarding the Slytherin Common Rooms and headed to find his boyfriend. Some of the Slytherins sitting in the common area gave him a small wave or nod which he returned before heading up the stairs to his boyfriend's room. Luckily his boyfriend was now a Prefect and had his own room.

The rest of the school hadn't been surprised when the majority of the sixth and seventh year Slytherins and about half of the fifth years had joined the Dark Lord's side during the battle, but what had surprised them was that the other half of the fifth years and the younger ones had decided to fight with them against the Dark Lord.

His boyfriend was one of the seventh years who had chosen to fight against the Dark Lord, one of the reasons why they had first become friends and then lovers.

Harry was smiling as he entered Blaise's room until he understood what he saw. Then he didn't even demand an explanation just whirled on his heels and stormed out of the Slytherin dormitories his magic whipping around him and leaving several stunned Slytherins.

Harry threw himself on the bed in Snape's quarters. Harry thought this might be the only safe place for him as he sobbed bitter tears of betrayal. First his two best friends, then another friend, now his boyfriend. Who was next in line to betray Harry Potter, The-Idiot-Who-Actually-Thought-People-Cared. Harry cried himself to sleep.

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Snape studied the sleeping boy and shook his head at the idiots that resided in Hogwarts. He and the Potter spawn still didn't get along all that well and even if he had survived the Final Battle Snape doubted they would have become friends. There was too much bad history between them to become more than teacher and student.

However, after Harry apologized for the Pensive incident Snape had resolved to do all he could to make sure that Potter survived to have a life after Voldemort. So he had trained the boy extensively in Defense Against the Dark Arts, taught him some of the lesser dark spells, helped him get up to an adequate level in Potions and give him some physical combat training.

Of course one of the reasons why he gave Harry extra training was purely selfish. With Dumbledore dead he only had to answer to one master, Voldemort, and he was trying to ensure that Harry defeated the Dark Lord so that he could be free from both of his 'Masters'. Of course Snape really hadn't expected to survive the battle, but just knowing the Dark Lord was dead was enough for him.

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Harry awoke with a headache, dry eyes and a cramped stomach. Apparently crying yourself to sleep does not leave you feeling refreshed in the morning. So he lay there contemplating what to do. Blaise was cheating on him, Ron and Hermione hated his guts and Ginny was more than likely considering drugging him into marrying her. _Can my life get any more screwed up?_

Harry really should learn not to tempt Fate by thinking such things because the moment he did Dobby popped into the room looking distressed. _Now what?_

"Master Harry, Master Harry. The Headmistress says you must go to her office immediately. There are Ministry people wanting to talk to you." Dobby said distressed that his Master was being summoned by Ministry officials.

Harry wasn't exactly thrilled either. _Please don't tell me they are going to try and control my life too._

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The Ministry was trying to control his life. Harry really wondered why he couldn't have just let Voldemort kill him because at least he would have a choice in his life, or death for that matter, instead of finding out he was being dictated to.

"Now Mr. Potter this is really for your own good. By becoming an Auror you'll show people that you have no intentions of becoming the next Dark Lord and since your friend Ron Weasley wants to be an Auror as well you won't be alone in the training program. Just think with your experience in the war you'll breeze through the training program without a problem." The official, whose name Harry didn't care about, said condescendingly as though he were talking to a child or an idiot. "You did say you wanted to become an Auror Mr. Potter and I think that Mr. Jordan makes an excellent point. This way you'll be safe from any Dark Supporters out for revenge." Professor McGonagall said looking at him over the top of her glasses.

_Why didn't anyone ask him what he wanted to do now that he was alive after the war? _"I understand your reasoning Mr. Jordan, Headmistress. I just need to make some adjustments and I'll give you my official answer tomorrow evening if that would be acceptable." Harry said looking for all the world like he wasn't being forced into something he didn't want to do.

"Excellent Mr. Potter. I'll be back tomorrow with the official documents, but let me be the first to congratulate you on a wise decision." Mr. Jordan said before Flooing back to the Ministry. Harry didn't say anything to McGonagall as he walked out of her office.

When he got down to Professor Snape's quarters he called for Dobby.

"What can Dobby do for great Master Harry?" the house elf asked looking ridiculous in mismatching neon green and pink socks and a royal blue sweater with a Golden Snitch embroidered on it.

"Dobby can you pack my things and bring them down here?" Harry asked pacing around the living room.

"Dobby is doing what Master Harry wants." The elf said before vanishing.

"What are you planning to do brat?" Snape asked from the chair in his portrait.

"I'm going to Grimmauld Place to pack up a few things that I want and then I'm getting the hell out of England. I'm not going to let anyone control my life, not after I've sacrificed so much to make sure I don't have a prophecy hanging over my head." Harry snapped, incensed that people thought they had a right to make his decisions for him.

"Did you remove the tracking spell on your wand like I told you to?" Snape asked.

"Yeah I did and I'm going to stop at that shop you told me about in Diagon Alley." Harry replied. "It's about time you listened to me, brat. Take my books and Pensieve while you're at it." Snape said.

"But, Professor…"

"Don't but me brat. I'd rather they be with you then with someone who would just trash them. And clear out the Potions room as well. Now that you're at least adequate with Potions you can use those ingredients. I don't want them to go to waste." Snape said when it looked like Harry was about to protest some more.

"I'll take care of them." Was all Harry said.

"Dobby is here with Master Harry's things." Dobby said apparating into the room with Harry's trunk and Hedwig. Harry quickly packed away the things Snape told him to take into his trunk.

"Thanks Dobby. Can you take me to Diagon Alley and then take my things to Grimmauld Place?"

"Master Harry is not staying at Hogwarts?" Dobby asked, tears gathering in his eyes.

"No Dobby I can't stay in England any longer." Harry replied.

Then Dobby brightened up. "Master Harry just needs to call Dobby whenever he needs help and Dobby comes without any wizards finding Master Harry." Dobby said puffing up proudly.

"Thanks Dobby. I really appreciate it. Goodbye Professor." Harry said as Dobby apparated them out of the room.

"Bye pest." Snape said once the two were gone. He wondered what it would take to convince Hogwarts to move him into the Potions classroom so he could yell at the dunderheaded students Hogwarts was saddled with. Snape smirked, he was going to be a pain in the ass.

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Harry stepped out of Flourish and Blotts several Galleons lighter but happier. He had gone to Gringotts to make sure his vaults were untouchable by the Ministry and to get a card that functioned like a debit card so he wouldn't have to keep going to Gringotts. The card could be used in both the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds, which fit into his plans perfectly. He went shopping to get a new wardrobe and had changed his look. On Professor Snape's advice he had gotten his hair magically lengthened so it could be pulled back into a short ponytail, which incidentally tamed his messy locks, and had added streaks of red and subtle blonde highlights. He had also gotten his eyesight corrected; his right ear pierced which had a simple gold hoop in and a tongue piercing. His scar had faded after Voldemort's death and combined with his new appearance no one had recognized him as Harry Potter.

He finished his shopping, grabbed a bite to eat at the Leaky Cauldron and then Flooed back to Grimmauld Place. He repacked all of his things in the new and larger trunk he bought and packed up the Black library as well as a few other heirlooms he didn't want anyone getting their hands on.

He also used a lot of magic to contain Fiendfyre in order to burn Mrs. Black's shrieking portrait from the wall, which gave him great pleasure, and removed all the old elf heads from the hallway.

Satisfied with the new renovations Harry checked his plane ticket one last time before going to bed.

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Harry awoke to the smell of breakfast, no doubt prepared by Kreacher. By giving the decrepit and nasty old house-elf the phony locket he had earned the elf's undying loyalty much to Hermione's disgust. She had still been heavily involved in campaigning for house-elf freedom and rights. Most people, Harry included, just ignored her.

Harry quickly dressed in a pair of dark skinny jeans, a plain white t-shirt and blue Converse sneakers. He brushed his hair and pulled it into a ponytail before shrinking his trunk and placing it in his backpack along with a book and some snacks for the long plane ride.

He went downstairs and entered the kitchen calling out a good morning to Kreacher before stopping dead in his tracks. Bill Weasley, Fleur Delacour and Luna Lovegood were digging into the food while simultaneously trying to feed his godson, Teddy Lupin.

"What are you doing here?" Harry asked surprised. _Please no more bad news._

"Morning Harry," Luna said as she smeared grape jam on her pancakes, "The Blithering Humdingers told me you were leaving England and I wanted to come to."

"Bill?" Harry asked accepting that Luna just knew what he was doing and would do what she wanted to do.

"I don't think you've heard yet Harry, but the Ministry is about to pass the Dark Creature Bill they've been working on. If it passes any Dark Creature would be subject to very restrictive laws and if they break any of them no matter for what reason, even self-defense, they will automatically be Kissed." Bill said, "I was bitten by a werewolf in human form so I don't have the disease, but I doubt the Ministry's going to care. Teddy's a half werewolf and even if he hasn't inherited the curse the Ministry will still probably classify him as a Dark Creature. And Fleur's a part-Veela which makes her subject to the laws as well. I went to Andromeda's to let her know about the law and she suggested I take Teddy to you and have you help us get out of the country. Of course Luna found out about our plans and dragged us here saying that we would all travel together as a family." Bill explained.

_A family._

"Can you help us Harry?" Bill asked.

"I'll call the airport and get us four more tickets." Harry said.

"Where 're we goin' 'Arry?" Fleur asked.

"I've always wanted to go to India." Harry said.

"Only if we go to the Taj Mahal." Luna piped in.

Harry smiled as the five unlikely family members jumped in a taxi and headed for Heathrow Airport. _Maybe this won't be so bad after all._

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A/N: Hope you liked this so far. Please leave me a review and vote for who you want Luna to be with. ~Dark Disaster


	2. Soulmates Aren't Real

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Enjoy

Disclaimer: I own nothing, absolutely nothing.

Pairings: Harry/Gambit, Bill Weasley/Fleur Delacour, Luna Lovegood/?-Poll on profile.

Soulmates Aren't Real

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_**Two Years Later**_

Gambit shuffled the deck of cards in his hand, bored out of his mind.

After helping Wolverine get to the Island where Stryker had been experimenting on mutants, he had gone back to New Orleans content to hustle tourists at poker.

However, a few months later he had run into the amnesiac Wolverine while he and the X-Men came to pick up a newly discovered mutant child in New Orleans. Of course seeing him in person triggered Wolverine's memories about Gambit and somehow he had ended up in New York in Professor Xavier's School for the Gifted, or Mutant High as he discovered it was called with affection.

He had gotten suckered into becoming one of the X-Men and was put to work as a physical education instructor when they weren't being sent on assignments. Now he was bored because life had become relatively quiet after the incident at Ellis Island and Magneto's incarceration. He supposed it was an acceptable life, but that didn't stop him from feeling caged on occasion. He had been feeling particularly fidgety this past week like something big was going to happen soon.

Speaking of trouble, Bobby, John and Marie walked into the room carrying a leather-bound, antique looking book. The three of them greeted him and then flopped on the floor flipping through the pages.

Ignoring them, Gambit started to lay out cards for a game of solitaire. After all the kids couldn't get into a lot of trouble with him in the room and reading a book, right?  
Wrong.

"Hey listen to this ya'll. _A soul mate bond is extremely rare even amongst witches and wizards, and rarer still for non-magical humans. The bond ties together two souls that literally complete each other. By consummating the bond, the pair will find that they will often receive a significant power boost and a telepathic link as well as the ability to sense when their bond-mate is in danger. For some reason the majority of the known soul mate pairings are among members of the same sex. It has been theorized that since same-sex pairings have often been looked down upon in the Wizarding World and anathema in the Muggle World the soul mate bond brings together those that might not have a chance to be together under normal circumstances. Of course with the invention of the male pregnancy potion the Wizarding World no longer solely advocates heterogeneous marriages to ensure the continuation of the bloodline. While the Wizarding World has whole-heartedly embraced same-sex pairings the same can not be said for the Muggle World._" Rogue read out loud.

"Muggle World? Wizarding World? What kind o' book 're ya readin' from 'n w'ere did ya get it?" Gambit asked surprised.

"It's called Ye Olde Magic Rites." Bobby said. "We found it in a second-hand bookshop and thought it would be fun to see what was in it."

"Uh-huh." Gambit replied unconvinced.

"Hey look. There are instructions for performing the soul mate search." Rogue said delighted. "Simply stand in the center of a room, open all the windows and repeat the following incantation: _I call upon the olde gods whose names only Time recalls, show unto me the one whose soul completes my own (or the name of the person you are doing the soul mate search for)._ However do not be disappointed if the spell reveals nothing. Nine times out of ten the caster does not have a soul mate that was born in the same time period."

"Let's give it a try." John said.

_What harm could they do?_ Gambit wondered to himself as he went back to his solitaire game.

"I call upon the olde gods whose names only Time recalls, show unto me the one whose soul completes my own." Rogue said once they opened all the windows.

"Apparently you don't have a soul mate so it is my turn." John said shoving Rogue away from the middle of the floor. "I call upon the olde gods whose names only Time recalls, show unto me the one whose soul completes my own." Nothing happened.

"My turn," Bobby cried out, "I call upon the olde gods whose names only Time recalls, show unto me the one whose soul completes my own." Still nothing.

"Let's try Gambit next." Rogue said smiling.

"I doubt the results are going to be any different." John said sulking.

"I call upon the olde gods whose names only Time recalls, show unto me the one whose soul completes Remy LeBeau's." Rogue called out.

At first nothing happened, but then a weird gray fog rolled into the room through the open windows. Undistinguishable voices whispered in the room. Finally all of the fog gathered until it formed a mirror. The four mutants exchanged worried glances. What would they see?

The four found themselves looking at a young man with blonde-and-red-streaked black hair, shimmering emerald green eyes and slightly tanned skin. Then they heard the two people in the mirror speak

"So Mr. Potter did you enjoy your travels?" an unseen person asked.

"Yeah we've had a great time, Griphook. I'm so glad to be away from England." The slightly accented voice said.

"That's good. Now what can I do for you?" 'Griphook' asked.

"Luna says we need to go to a school in Westchester, New York. She says there's a man there by the name of Professor Xavier who can help us." 'Mr. Potter" answered.

"So you'll need American citizenship papers as well as plane tickets to get you there, right?" 'Griphook' asked.

"Everything we need for the five of us. The American MoM has laws protecting the rights of 'Dark Creatures' so Teddy, Bill and Fleur will be okay there." 'Mr. Potter' replied.

"Is Mr. Weasley still desiring to work as a curse breaker with us? If so I should notify the American branch of Gringotts so they will be able to provide him with a job there."

"That would be great Griphook. Thanks. When will the papers be ready?"

"You can come pick up the papers tomorrow and we'll have you in New York in two days."

"Thanks for everything Griphook. May gold flow into your coffers."

"Not a problem Mr. Potter. May your vault always stay full." The mirror turned back into fog and the four mutants watched in stunned silence as the fog rolled back out the window.

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_**Two months before the ritual**_

Harry sang softly to himself as he bustled around the kitchen in their Sydney apartment. He swayed to the melody as he cooked breakfast for his family. He, Luna, Bill, Fleur and Teddy had moved around quite a lot after leaving England. They had gone to India, toured Eastern Europe and traveled through Asia after which they ended up in Australia.

He and Luna had caught up with their muggle education and now Luna was attending the University of Sydney and Harry was taking online classes so he could stay and take care of Teddy. Luna seemed to like the college lifestyle a lot. Fleur had been taking interior design lessons and was now a fully licensed interior decorator who was well-known throughout the area. Bill, of course, had remained with Gringotts as a curse breaker but had also taken a few lucrative private contracts.

Teddy was almost three now and Harry had a blast playing with him, taking him to places he had never gotten to go as a child, and just generally spending time with his godson. Harry smiled quite content with the life they had built away from England.

The only thing that could possibly change their lives were the strange things that were happening around Luna and the odd feelings he got when he was around certain people. None of them could figure out what was going on as Harry and Luna had come into their magical maturity before leaving England.

"Morning Harry." Bill greeted as he came down the stairs.

"Morning Bill." Harry replied as he set a mug of black coffee in front of him before filling up his plate.

"Morning everyone." Luna greeted as she skipped down the stairs, little Teddy securely held against her hip. She also had the Daily Prophet in her hands. The owl must of come to one of the upstairs windows instead of the kitchen.

Bill took the paper from Luna as she got Teddy situated in his high chair before taking her breakfast from Harry's hand.

"Merlin's hairy ball sacks!" Bill cursed as he read the front page of the Prophet.

"Bill!" Three chastising voices cried out. Fleur had just come down the stairs in time to hear Bill's invective.

"What is ze matter?" Fleur exclaimed looking at her husband worriedly.

"The Ministry has finally passed the Dark Creature Registration Act." Bill spat out enraged.

"I thought they already passed that which was one of the reasons why you guys came with me." Harry asked confused.

"No, the first law the Ministry passed was called the Dark Creatures Act and was simply a way for the Ministry to gain political support. It basically said that any creature found attacking and/or killing someone would be 'put down'. This wasn't anything new and it was said in fancy language and there was a new department in the Ministry that was created to oversee such cases. In other words it was just to give people a sense that the Ministry was taking action to see that they were safe from the rare rogue like Fenrir Greyback." Bill explained.

"Alright I can understand that as a political move, but what's the difference between that and the Dark Creature Registration Act?" Luna piped in.

"Basically it is the extreme version. All dark creatures are to be registered with the Ministry and moved to monitored reserves. There are laws about what they can and can't do, they can't turn anyone without special permission from the Ministry and anyone who doesn't comply with the new laws will be exterminated. Though that's not the language the Ministry is using." Bill said.

"But how are they determining what a dark creature is?" Harry asked surprised.

"Werewolves, vampires and veelas are the obvious ones, but they are also considering human Seers and and anyone who has even a touch of 'dark creature' blood in them. So basically Fleur, Teddy, Luna and I are screwed." Bill said furious.

Fleur shook her head looking sad. "It iz ridiculous ze way dey treat us! My family 'as been living in peace wit' ze wizards for a long time without problems."

"I agree Fleur. And its even worse for people like Teddy and Bill because they're not full werewolves but they have some characteristics of them and all of a sudden they are condemned." Harry said mad on behalf of his beloved godson. Maybe it was a good thing Remus was dead. This would have been horrible for the werewolf.

"Well I guess this means that we are never going back to England even if we wanted to." Harry said. "But Bill what about your parents? Are you going to want to get word to them about where we are or even let them know that we're okay?"

Bill suddenly looked dejected and Fleur placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I didn't want to tell you Harry, but I went to see my parents about four months after we left England. At first everything was okay and they were happy to see me and all. At that point I don't think that they knew I was with you. I told them I had proposed to Fleur and that she had said yes. I wanted them to know so they could come to the wedding."

Harry looked scared. Although Ron had betrayed him, he had always hoped that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, his second family, wouldn't turn on him. Now it seemed like he would lose them as well.

"They told me that I shouldn't marry a dark creature and jeopardize Ginny's chances of becoming Mrs. Potter. After all the reputation of the Savior of the Wizarding World couldn't be sullied by association with a Veela even if they were only in-laws." Bill said. "I couldn't believe my parents subscribed to those kinds of prejudices, after all our family was basically considered blood traitors by the other purebloods for siding with Dumbledore. So I asked them what becoming a brother-in-law to a man with werewolf characteristics would do to your reputation." Bill said humorlessly.

"What did they say?" Harry asked almost dreading the response.

"They said it wouldn't be a problem as long as I kept up a glamor on my face to hide my scars and that as long as I didn't turn into a hairy beast there would be no repercussions. I didn't know how to respond to that and then asked them if they felt that way about werewolves why they even associated with Remus. They just shrugged my question off and said it didn't really matter as he was dead anyways."

Bill had to pause in his explanation as every glass object in the kitchen shattered under the explosion caused by Harry's enraged magic.

"Sorry." Harry mumured a wave of his hand restoring everything back to normal. "Go on."

"Well, at that point I couldn't stand anymore of their hypocritical attitude and flat out told them that I was marrying Fleur and screw them, that Ginny had a better chance of getting a soulless statue to marry her than to become Mrs. Potter and that unless they wanted to revise their belief system they could consider having lost five sons instead of four." Bill finished in a rush.

Harry picked up Teddy cuddling him close. He couldn't believe that people he trusted were so willing to use him for fame and that the Wizarding World was so stupid to perpetuate antique and outdated prejudices such as those against dark creatures. No wonder Great Britain had the highest number of Dark Lords and Ladies throughout the centuries. The British witches and wizards were all too willing to let a 'savior' do their dirty work and not do anything to fix the prejudices that fostered the rise of aforementioned dark lords and ladies.

"Well lets be glad then that the Ministry didn't declare the goblins Dark Creatures otherwise we would have to break into Gringotts to get our money back." Harry joked trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

It worked because the other three started laughing. "Don't worry Harry. Not even the Ministry is that stupid. The goblins could single-handedly destroy the British Wizarding economy if that ever happened. After all they control ever financial transaction that takes place." Bill replied.

"Don't worry my 'Arry everythin' will work out just 'ine. You will see." Fleur reassured clearing the breakfast table.

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_**A month later**_

Harry rubbed his temples trying to relieve the headache that was building up. He didn't know what was going on anymore. He kept getting headaches and odd things were happening to him. He was hearing other people's thoughts, he could manipulate metal objects and the one time he had accidentally sliced his hand while cutting a steak he saw it heal in two seconds. Not only that but he was levitating objects without saying a spell or consciously using his magic. Also occasionally random energy surges would cause the power to go out in their apartment and in the surrounding neighborhood. Though that only happened when he had a war nightmare which was down to two a week.

He wasn't sure what was happening to him. It wasn't his magic that he was consciously controlling or even reacting to his wishes. It was something else entirely.

Bill and Fleur were stumped on what could be happening to him and to Luna as well. She often found herself releasing small bolts of lightning from her hands, creating static electricity or electrically charging the air which short circuited all of the electronic devices and often made it hard to breathe.

Luna was a Seer but for some reason even she couldn't See what changes were taking place. It was even more puzzling when Harry, giving her a goodnight hug, had accidentally brushed against her skin and then all of a sudden he had the same problems with electricity that she had. Stranger still was when Harry had gotten fed up with all of the freaky occurrences and had done _something_ to stop them from happening. Except whatever he did had made her feel like she was suffocating. Luna imagined it felt like what would happen if someone had removed her magic. It was such an innate part of her that removing it felt like Harry had tried to kill her.

When Harry had found out he had frantically reversed what he had done which was still unknown to them all. That episode had left Luna feeling lightheaded, Bill and Fleur puzzled, Harry guilty and moody while Teddy was confused at the strange emotions lingering in the house. His hair had been changing colors from Harry's jet black and streaked hair to Luna's golden blonde to Bill's red to Fleur's silvery gold and back again.

This had gone on for quite awhile leaving tensions high among the wizards until finally Luna had a vision.

"Harry!" Luna cried out as they sat at the dinner table no one actually eating. "You have to go see Griphook at the London branch of Gringotts."

Harry looked startled. "What for? I said I wasn't ever going to set foot in England again."

"You don't have to go anywhere else, but I know that Griphook has information that could solve all our problems." Luna said seriously.

Harry hesitated a moment before giving in. After all Luna was the Seer and she hadn't been wrong yet about her visions. "Okay Luna. I'll leave in the morning."

"Thanks Harry." Luna said, relieved.

"Why don't you come with me to work tomorrow Harry and you can Floo from the Sydney Gringotts to the London one without worrying about getting spotted by reporters or anyone else." Bill offered.

"Sounds like a good idea. Fleur, can you take Teddy with you to work tomorrow?" Harry asked.

"But of course." Fleur replied.

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_**The next day**_

Harry coughed as he, barely, managed to exit the fireplace without landing flat on his face.

Brushing his robes off he headed for the nearest empty counter.

"How can I help you?" the goblin sneered at the glamored Harry Potter.

"Good tidings to you Honored One. I would like to speak to Goblin Griphook if he is available." Harry said courteously.

The goblin arched one eyebrow. "Well I've not seen too many wizards who know Goblin etiquette. Go down the hall and enter the third door on the left. I will send Griphook to you Mr. Potter. May golden fortune smile upon you." The Goblin said turning to speak with another.

Harry followed his instructions and waited for in the assigned room for the very first Goblin that he had ever met.

Who would have thought that Blaise would be so helpful? Even though his boyfriend had betrayed him Harry had found that as a pureblood Blaise knew a lot about etiquette and customs including that which pertained to Creatures. Most wizards and witches didn't care to realize that Vampires, Veelas, Werewolves, Mermaids and Goblins had their own hierarchical structure, customs, traditions and etiquette. Blaise had made it his duty to make sure that Harry learned everything he could about Pureblood and Creature etiquette. And for that he would always remain thankful to Blaise even though he would never forgive his betrayal. After all that knowledge had served him well throughout their travels.

"Good tidings to you and may golden fortune smile upon you Lord Potter." Griphook said interrupting Harry's musings.

"May good tidings and gold fall upon you." Harry replied.

Griphook smiled, secretly pleased that the Goblins' trust in Harry Potter was not misplaced. "What can I assist you with today?"

"A Seer friend of mine told me I should seek you out as you might be able to solve a problem for us." Harry said.

"Tell me what happened and I will do the best I can." Griphook replied, neither denying the request nor promising anything.

So Harry told Griphook about the strange things that had been happening around them and their fears that something might be wrong with their magic.

Griphook didn't respond for a long time as he considered the situation. If Lord Potter and his Seer friend weren't wizards then Griphook might say that they were mutants, but that was almost impossible. Very few wizards and witches who had an active X-Gene lost their core and the ability to perform magic. But then there weren't all that many with the gene in the first place and a witch or wizard with a physical mutation was far more likely to keep their magical core, which was the case with the one mutant he knew of. On the other hand, Lord Potter was extremely powerful and known for doing the impossible and a Seer wasn't exactly a normal witch anyways….

"If what I think is true then you might be what are known as mutants." Griphook stated slowly.

Harry stared blankly at Griphook. "What is a mutant?"

"A mutant is basically a muggle that has a certain gene in their genetic makeup. It gives them a power of some kind. It is not magic but think of it as being only able to cast one spell without being able to perform magic." Griphook explained. "I have heard of muggles who can read minds, heal fast, fly, levitate objects, teleport and that's only what I have heard. There are many mutations and they are all unique."

Harry looked stunned. "So you think Luna and I might be mutants?"

"I believe so however I am not entirely certain. The best thing I can recommend is to seek out a mutant named Charles Xavier. He runs a school for mutants in New York training them how to use their powers and instilling in them an ethical code. Think of him as the mutant version of Dumbledore." Griphook said. "I believe he will be able to clarify things for you. Plus one of the mutants, a Dr. Hank McCoy, is also a registered Medi-Wizard. He might be willing to take you on as an apprentice so you could get your license."

Harry paused. After the fiasco at Hogwarts he told Madame Pomfrey he couldn't stay any longer and decided to find someone else outside of England to teach him. However, he had concluded that raising Teddy came first as well as the chance to live a happy life with family. There would be time to get his license later. Now he could have that chance. "Do you think you could make arrangements for all of us to move to New York?" Harry asked.

"It shouldn't be difficult. I can get citizenship papers for you from the American Ministry and book you all a flight and hotel room until you decide on your living arrangements. I will also see about transferring Mr. Weasley to the New York Gringotts branch as well as transferring your vault contents." Griphook said.

"What are the laws regarding Dark Creatures?" Harry asked suddenly recalling the status of the other four.

"Non-existent. As long as the 'creature' does not engage in wanton sprees of killing the Ministry could care less. However you should know that the muggle population does not easily accept the presence of mutants although, again, the American Ministry of Magic has nothing against them. Of course mutant-wizard hybrids aren't common either so you might want to be cautious, just in case." Griphook warned.

Harry nodded and then gave Griphook permission to make the arrangements while he Flooed back to Australia to tell the others of the new plans. They would be in New York in three days time.

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_**The day after the soul mate ritual**_

Gambit took a long drag of the cigar he held in one hand and leaned his head against the bedroom window. He was confused and didn't like the feeling. He might have been able to pass off last night if he hadn't had strange dreams, like he was watching someone else's memories. And every time he saw the green-eyed young man Remy would feel his pulse race.

Gambit sighed and headed downstairs. He had forbidden the other three kids to say a word to anyone about what happened last night. First he didn't think anyone would believe them and second he didn't like the idea of anyone knowing his private affairs. He liked his privacy and didn't want to give any of the others a chance to pry into his feelings. Plus he didn't want anyone forcing the young man into a relationship with him if he didn't want to be and giving the youth the idea that he had no other option but to be with Remy.

"What's 'appenin'?" Gambit asked the Professor as he walked into the kitchen. The other members of the X-Men were spread out around the table as well.

"Cerebro alerted me to the emergence of two powerful mutants last month. I have been trying to track them down, but something is interfering with Cerebro. Then yesterday I located one of the mutants in London, England and just when I was about to summon you he vanished. Since then I have been unable to pinpoint his location." Xavier explained looking slightly puzzled.

"Ya think he could be blocking Cerebro somehow?" Logan asked.

"Well I considered that possibility as well Logan, but there is almost a kind of forcefield around these two mutants that messes with Cerebro's ability to locate them and I'm not entirely sure it's intentional." Charles explained.

"So what do you want us to do Professor?" Jean asked.

"Be prepared. I am going to keep trying and if I can get even an approximate location I want you all ready to go and contact them. It might be dangerous for everyone if we can't get a hold of them before they are discovered."

"Do you think they are that powerful?" Scott asked.

"Yes, I do. I can't tell for certain but I am guessing that at the very least they could very well be a Class 3 if not higher."

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Harry tumbled out of the fireplace in Sydney Drive, the Australian version of Diagon Alley. He dashed into the Apothecary for the potions supplies they needed and then darted into Outback Adventures, the bookstore, for a couple of texts he had been wanting. Shrinking his purchases he exited the Drive and headed for their apartment.

"Hi Harry." Luna greeted as he walked in. "Did Griphook help you out?"

"Yeah he was really helpful, but I'll wait until Bill and Fleur get home." Harry replied as he picked up Teddy and danced with him into the kitchen.

Luna merely smiled at her 'boys' and picked up the book she had been reading.

A few hours later the door opened bringing the scent of Fleur's favored perfume and the sound of Bill's laughter. A minute later and the happy couple entered the kitchen drawn by the delicious scent of dinner.

"Hi Harry, Luna." They greeted before kissing Teddy and sitting down at the table.

Harry grinned as he served everyone, relishing the ability to be a stay-at-home-dad.

"So what's the word?" Bill asked as they ate.

"Well, Griphook thinks Luna and I might be what are called mutants, but he isn't sure as there are very few known case of a witch or wizard having the mutant gene and keeping their magic core although it is possible." Harry said.

"I don't think I've ever heard of that." Bill said frowning.

"I didn't know either but he said we should go talk to a man named Charles Xavier who runs a school for mutants in New York. Griphook said he would be able to help us. Also there is an American wizard who is also a mutant by the name of Dr. Hank McCoy and is a Medi-Wizard. Griphook thinks he might be willing to take me on as an apprentice." Harry said.

"Oh zat iz great 'Arry! I know zat you love takin' care of Teddy but it will be nice to 'ave a career of your own." Fleur said in joy.

"Well do you think you guys would be willing to go with Luna, Teddy and I to New York? Griphook said he could get Bill transferred to the New York branch, but I don't know about your business Fleur." Harry said nervously.

Bill gently slapped Harry upside the head. "Don't be silly Harry. Of course Fleur and I are coming with you all."

"What he said. Most of my clients are wizards so it will be easy to Floo if needed and I can work in New York as well." Fleur said.

Luna grinned. "Then its settled. We'll get Kreacher and Dobby to help us pack up tomorrow."

"Griphook said he would send over the plane tickets and citizenship papers as soon as they were complete so we'll probably end up leaving day after tomorrow." Harry said.

"I've always wanted to visit the United States." Bill mused as they started to clean up the kitchen.

"I think it will be fun." Harry replied.

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_**Two Days Later**_

Gambit was pacing in his bedroom. If that soul-mate ritual was correct then this was the day that his other half was to arrive. He was nervous, though he would die before admitting it. _Would his mate even want him? _

Growling, he left his bedroom and headed downstairs to the living room so he would be able to see this 'Mr. Potter' when he arrived.

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Bill navigated the rental car down the road following the directions Fleur had in her hand.

"There! That's it." Harry called out as they turned down the private drive leading to the Xavier School for the Gifted.

They pulled up in front of the gates and a voice said, "How can I help you?"

"We would like to speak to a Professor Charles Xavier, if possible. We were told he might be able to help us out." Bill said.

"Proceed please." The voice replied as the gates opened up.

They drove through the gates and parked in front of the mansion. "Are we ready?" Fleur asked worriedly.

Harry and Luna nodded. Their mutant powers had been getting worse in the past couple of days and they were willing to accept help from whoever could provide it.

The four wizards exited the car, little Teddy balanced securely on Harry's left hip, right hand ready to draw his wand if necessary.

When they reached the main door it opened revealing a tall, slim and dark-haired man wearing some kind of ruby glasses. "Welcome to the Institute. My name's Scott Summers and I'll take you to the Professor." The man said gesturing the group to follow him.

Harry liked the look of the place and as they walked down the hallway grew more excited at the prospect of staying here. He followed Scott into an office and immediately was captivated by red-ringed brown eyes. The man attached to those eyes was probably in his early twenties, leanly muscled and smirked at him around the cigar that was dangling between his lips. Harry flushed under the guy's appraising stare and tore his eyes away just in time to hear a throat clear and he turned around to study the bald man in a wheelchair.

"My name is Charles Xavier and I've been looking for you."

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A/N: There's Chapter 2. Leave me a review please! Oh and can anyone give me some ideas on how to write Fleur's accent? Not entirely sure how it goes. Thanks. ~Dark Disaster


	3. Operation Soul Mate

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! And the results of the poll are in. Luna will be paired with Kurt!

Disclaimer: I own nothing if I did I wouldn't be working at a restaurant.

Warnings: Will contain malexmale relationship. If that bothers you don't read.

Operation Soul Mate

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_Last time_

"_My name is Charles Xavier and I've been looking for you."_

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The four wizards paused upon hearing those words. They exchanged worried looks. Was this man somehow connected to the British Ministry? Was he here to drag them back to Britain?

Luna gently laid a hand on Harry's arm restraining him from rashly letting his magic react to his emotions and not his will.

Xavier frowned when he saw that his words made these newcomers almost paranoid and not exactly curious or even surprised. "I beg your pardon. I didn't mean to imply that I somehow knew who you all are. I have a machine called Cerebro that I use to help track down those who have recently found out they have mutant abilities. I knew there were two strong mutants in Australia but for some reason I was unable to track you down. I admit I was surprised to find you on my doorstep when I expected it would take awhile to be able to find you and offer you assistance." Charles explained hoping the explanation would calm his guests down.

To his surprise it worked which only made him wonder what the soon-to-be newest residents of the Institute had to hide.

Bill tried to force himself to relax. While it was nice to know that this man didn't seem to know anything about wizards he was still wary about the idea that this Professor Xavier had a machine which could track them if only based on the X-Gene. "It's no problem. We were simply surprised that it was possible to locate someone based on their abilities."

"Most people can't so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Now may I present the staff of the Xavier Institute?" Xavier queried rhetorically. "I believe you already met Scott Summers our mathematics teacher and he has the ability to shoot an optic beam from his eyes."

Scott waved at them from where he was leaning against the wall.

"This is Ororo Munroe, code name Storm, who teaches our biology and history classes and can control the weather." Xavier continued

The white-haired African woman smiled warmly at them.

"Jean Grey teaches English and writing courses and also helps out in the Medical Bay. She has telepathic as well as telekinetic abilities."

The red head smiled and waved at them.

Harry looked a little startled at her appearance as she reminded him of Lily Potter. Since he flipped through the photo album Hagrid made for him every night, he felt justified in making the comparison.

"Dr. Hank McCoy, codename Beast, is our resident medical doctor as well as the chemistry professor. As you can tell his mutation needs no explanation." The blue furred man simply waved at them from his seat.

"Logan, also known as Wolverine, teaches martial arts and is also our resident mechanic. He has the ability to heal as well as having an adamantium-laced skeleton." The gruff and slightly wild man merely popped out three metal covered claws from his fist in greeting.

Harry thought that was an awesome ability and was slightly jealous. Luna grinned at Harry as though reading his mind.

"And this is Remy LeBeau, otherwise known as Gambit. He teaches our physical education course, assists Logan and also maintains our security system. He can charge objects with kinetic energy." The man with red-ringed eyes that had captivated Harry's attention offered them a smirk from where he was slouched against the window.

Harry's heart flip-flopped without permission.

"And of course I am Charles Xavier. I teach psychology and ethics and oversee the running of the school. Like Jean I am a telepath as well."

Harry found himself strengthening his Occulmency barriers when he realized that two of the mutants here could read minds. This was no time for him to break the Statue of Secrecy even if mutants were more than average muggles.

"My name is Bill Weasley and this is my wife Fleur Delacour."

"Eet ees a pleasure to meet you." The blonde haired Veela greeted.

"The other lovely lady is Luna Lovegood and our multicolored friend here is Harry Potter." Bill introduced the others.

Harry kicked Bill in the shins to the amusement of the others.

Luna smacked Harry in the back of the head.

"And who is that adorable little angel?" Ororo questioned gesturing to Teddy who was securely balanced on Harry's hip.

"This is my son Teddy Lupin-Potter." Harry replied. Teddy gurgled happily.

"He's adorable." Jean said.

Luna grinned as she stole Teddy from Harry and cuddled him in her lap, making soft cooing noises at him. The little boy responded by making adorable kissing sounds.

_He's my son_. The words echoed over and over again in Gambit's ears. Was the lovely Miss Lovegood the mother of his son? Were they still together? His heart dropped as he suddenly had doubts about that soul-mate ritual.

Harry leaned against Luna drawing strength from his beloved sister. He didn't know if he really wanted to be here. After all the goblins could probably find someone to train them in their new abilities without having to live among mind-readers. He was so tired of moving and for once he wanted a home and a family of his own. He didn't want to live in a place that didn't belong to him and where his family would be split up.

"So will you be able to help Harry and Luna?" Bill asked getting the group back on topic.

"Yes I'm sure we can help them out. It is a little odd for their powers to develop so late. In most cases the mutant gene seems to activate between the ages of fourteen to seventeen." Professor Xavier said studying Harry and Luna.

Harry stiffened upon hearing that. He would have to keep glamours up to hide Teddy's Metamorphagus abilities. The last thing he needed was for them to believe Teddy had a mutant ability.

They would probably want to study him and learn more about his parentage. While it wasn't expressly forbidden for mutants to learn about the wizarding world, it wasn't exactly encouraged to let them know if it wasn't necessary. And Harry planned on keeping their past and abilities a secret. Once he could control his freaky new abilities then they were gone.

"Will you be staying here?" Scott asked Bill and Fleur politely.

"No, I am afraid not. We 'ave anozzer 'ome about twenty minutes from 'ere zat Bill and I will stay at. Our jobs keep us very busy and we would not want to deesturb you." Fleur explained.

"In fact we had best be leaving. I need to head to work soon and I want to make sure our house was prepared for us." Bill said standing up.

"The house is ready," Luna said "but watch out for the Doxy colony in the attic."

The mutants looked at the blonde girl confused while Bill swore.

"Doxies are a pain in the arse to get rid of." Bill muttered to himself.

Logan raised an eyebrow when he heard the redhead curse. What the hell was a Doxy?

"Yes well thank you for coming and I assure you we will do all we can to help Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood to settle in." Professor Xavier said as the group filed out of the office.

"Give us a call if you need anything. We'll try and stop by every now and then, but you know where the house is so don't be a stranger." Bill said jokingly as they walked downstairs to the main doors.

"And do not forget to bring my Teddy or I will 'ave to drag you back 'ome." Fleur warned the two Brits.

The corners of Harry's lips turned up as he imagined an enraged Fleur in Veela form barging into the mansion. Fleur was a wonderful mother. Not too overbearing or smothering, she offered Harry his space while making sure he felt a part of the family. And she worried about him without demanding anything of him. He was going to miss her and Bill a lot.

He and Luna received hugs and kisses from the couple before they drove off in the rental car.

"Well why don't we get you all settled in?" Ororo said a few minutes later when it was obvious Harry and Luna were still looking after the long gone car.

"That would be wonderful." Luna said tugging on Harry's sleeve to get him to follow her.

With a heavy heart Harry trudged back into the mansion trying not to feel as if Bill and Fleur were abandoning him.

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"So what do you think of our newest residents?" Professor Xavier asked the X-Men later that night after the Brits were settled into their rooms.

"They're hidin' somethin'." Logan grunted.

"I agree with Logan. Did you see the way they reacted when the Professor said he had been searching for them? It was almost as if they were expecting someone to come after them." Jean said.

"Were you able to get anything from their thoughts even if you didn't do an in-depth search, Professor?" Scott asked.

Charles paused for a long moment not entirely sure how to answer that question. "While normally I try not to intrude on other people's thoughts I tried to skim their surface thoughts to find a better way to reassure them we meant them no harm." He began and then paused.

"Well did you find anything out?" Ororo finally asked.

"No. All four of them had some kind of mental barrier that blocked my probes. I've never encountered anything like it before. It might not be too surprising in the younger ones especially since they are mutants, but I have never encountered non-mutants with even a flimsy mental shield let alone one as strong as the ones I ran into today." Xavier finally said.

The X-Men were silent as they contemplated this new turn of events.

"The kid, Teddy. He smelled different too." Logan said suddenly.

"What do you mean by different?" Scott asked surprised.

"As in not human. For some reason he smells like a wolf.'

Jean suddenly laughed. "Oh come on Logan. You can't seriously believe that a two-year old is what….a werewolf or something?"

Logan scowled, the others laughed hesitantly, but Hank frowned.

_I wonder….._ Hank mused before the Professor's voice jerked him from his contemplations.

"Hank, tomorrow will you give Mr. Potter and Miss Lovegood a standard medical examination and then bring them to the Danger Room afterwards so we can assess the work that we will need to do." Charles said.

Hank nodded. "I'll examine them first thing after breakfast."

"Good. For now, although we are certain our new mutants are hiding something, let's treat them like every other mutant. I do want you to observe them and see if you can find out more about them. Perhaps there will be something that we can do to help our new students." Xavier told his X-Men.

The others nodded, although Logan didn't look too happy, and then they split up to get ready for bed.

Tomorrow would be a busy day.

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_Earlier_

"Dis be de 'all wit' yours and le garçon's room." Gambit said tossing a smile over his shoulder to Harry. "De bathroom be right 'ere and dis be ya room." He finished opening a door two down from the bathroom.

Harry gave a cursory glance around the room, smiling in approval. "It's perfect. Thanks." Harry replied.

Gambit responded with a smile and then on a whim leaned in close to Harry.

Harry's breath caught in his throat as he thought Gambit was going to kiss him.

But to Harry's surprise (and disappointment?), Gambit only brushed a stray strand of hair that had been hanging in front of his face.

"If ya need anyt'ing at all my room be at de end o' de 'all." Gambit said and sauntered towards to the aforementioned room.

Harry stood there for a moment stunned, before smiling softly and entering his new abode.

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Gambit grinned to himself. Most people seemed to forget that he possessed three mutant powers, one of which was empathy.

Desire and caution.

Those had been the main emotions warring within Harry tonight.

Gambit knew he was a very attractive man and if they really were soul-mates it would only stand to reason that Harry would be attracted to him.

However, caution spoke of past emotional baggage and more than likely a bad relationship. So while Harry was attracted to him there would be both of their pasts to overcome, Harry's son to consider and his girlfriend(?). It wasn't going to be easy but Gambit was excited at the prospect of wooing his mate.

Let Operation Soul Mate begin.

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Harry studied the room that Gambit had shown him to. The wall directly opposite the door had double windows covered with turquoise curtains and a full-sized bed was placed lengthwise under the window, the headboard placed in the corner made by the two walls. Light green sheets and pillowcases and an aqua comforter covered the bed. The closet took up the right hand wall and the sliding doors were mirrored. An oak nightstand with a seashell-decorated lamp and an alarm clock sat next to the bed. An oak stained book shelf was placed next to the door. The floor was covered with a soft light blue rug which made Harry kick off his shoes and socks and let his bare feet sink into the carpet.

Harry smiled at the room. At least if he was stuck here it would be in a tastefully decorated room reminiscent of the ocean and not the garish Gryffindor nor antagonistic Slytherin colors that had surrounded him his whole life.

"Well what do you think Teddy bear?" Harry asked the sleepy little boy on his hip.

"Sweepy." Came the cute reply.

"Me too little man, me too." Harry unshrunk their luggage and watched in satisfaction as their things jumped into their proper places. Teddy's playpen in the corner, clothes and shoes in the closet, pictures on the wall and books in the bookshelf.

"Hmmm….I don't think even mutants are used to seeing moving pictures and books like _1001 Magical Herbs and Fungi _so we'll have to use some glamours to hide them, right Teddy?" Harry said though mostly to himself.

"'Ight!" Teddy said yawning.

"Alright let's get you dressed for bed." Harry said pulling out a pair of blue pajamas with little wolves on them for Teddy. He changed Teddy and then himself before pulling back the bedcovers and placing Teddy on the bed.

He quickly took out his contacts and then climbed into bed next to his son. Amber eyes stared lovingly back at him and Harry felt a wave of longing for Remus rush through him. He hugged Teddy tightly to his chest as he thought of the man who had been a second godfather to him. Although Sirius' death had made things awkward between them for a little while, they overcame those issues and grew even closer than they had been. For the first time Harry had known what it felt like to have a father. Sirius was great, but between school and the man's supposed criminal background they didn't have a lot of time to spend together.

Harry had to furiously blink back tears and placed a gentle kiss on Teddy's forehead. "I promise I won't leave you alone Teddy bear." Harry whispered before turning off the lamp.

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"_Tsk, tsk. Little Baby Potter is all on his own. Whatever is he going to do against the Big Bad Death Eaters." _

"_Now, now Bella let's not scare him too much. Better leave that up to our Lord." That cool and arrogant voice could only belong to Lucius Malfoy. _

"_I suppose your right Lucius. But until our Lord arrives to play with his new toy…Crucio!" _

_Harry screamed._

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Harry woke up with a cry. He sat up straight in bed, panting, eyes wide open in fear but unseeing.

It took him a moment to recall that he was in the Xavier Institute and not bound and helpless in Riddle Manor. Harry dropped his head in his hands and tried to calm his racing heart down. He hadn't had a nightmare in quite awhile at least not one that someone hadn't awoken him from.

Bill or Charlie had been there to pull him from the nightmare's grasp, comfort him through the shaking and crying fits and gently rock him back to sleep. But it wasn't fair to drag Bill away from Fleur and Charlie….Charlie was dead.

Harry rolled out of bed after making sure Teddy was still tucked in tight. He made his way to the bathroom across the hall and splashed warm water on his face, trying to soothe the shaking in his hands and warm his clammy skin.

Harry sighed to himself as he climbed back into bed and tried to get comfortable, praying that the rest of his sleep would be undisturbed. If Luna knew she would be there in a heartbeat to comfort him, but there were some things that he couldn't bear to make himself share with the younger girl. Although she had been an integral part of the war effort, in some ways, she had been spared knowledge and experience of the darker and more horrific acts than just outright killing.

It had been hard enough to tell Bill and Charlie and they were the ones who found him after….

Harry shook his head. What was he thinking? He was an adult for Merlin's sake! Some silly nightmares shouldn't bother him this much…

Resolutely Harry lay back down, determined to get as much sleep as he could before having to deal with strange mutant powers in the morning.

For once Fate granted his desire and the rest of the night all he saw was the inside of his eyelids.

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Luna skipped down the stairs, feeling refreshed after a good night's sleep and followed her nose to the kitchen.

"Good morning one and all!" Luna chirped as she entered the kitchen.

"Good morning Luna." Jean greeted from where she was cooking up pancakes.

She received greetings from everyone one else except Logan who only grunted, half-awake, and Remy who only offered her a cool nod. Luna, however, ignored the last two as she scanned the kitchen looking for someone.

"Is Harry not up yet?" She asked frowning.

"No I haven't seen him yet." Ororo replied before sipping her coffee.

"Hmm. Either he's being lazy or Teddy's being difficult. I'd better go help." Luna said darting out the kitchen and missing Remy's pained look.

Remy stood up and put his dishes in the dishwasher. "I've got ta do some work on de security system." He told the others before leaving the kitchen.

Gambit was almost positive that his soul-mate had a lover and Remy wasn't cruel enough to break them up. Was she the mother of Harry's son? Remy growled to himself and headed to the security room where he had a lot of work to do.

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Harry hopped up onto the examination table as Dr. McCoy bustled around hooking up the various machines. He eyed them with distrust wondering if they were all really necessary. He didn't mind being the one who was doing the examining but being the patient made him recall all of the (dangerous) events in his life.

Hank grinned as he noticed the discomfort on the new mutant's face. "Don't worry about it. This is just a routine check-up to make sure you're healthy." Hank reassured him.

"Uh-huh." Harry replied not exactly comforted.

Harry decided in order to keep from dwelling on negative memories decided that the earlier he got started on his apprenticeship the better. "So Dr. McCoy," Harry started.

"Just call me Hank." The doctor interrupted as he jotted down things on the clipboard in hand.

"Hank," Harry tried again, "I'm interested in pursuing medicine. How did you become a doctor?" He asked casually.

"Oh well first you need to fulfill general course requirements such as chemistry, biology, calculus and English for example. Then you'll need a GPA of at least 3.5 to be competitive as well as high MCAT scores. After that it depends on which medical school you apply to as to what other requirements they will require." Hank explained finishing up the last of his examinations.

Harry rolled his eyes. _I guess I'm going to have to drop some bigger hints. _

"Actually the way I understood it you could enter into an apprenticeship under a licensed and practicing Healer as long as you achieved at least five Outstandings on your NEWTS or depending on the Medi-Witch or Wizard you might need higher scores than that." Harry said, praying that the goblins hadn't somehow made a mistake about Hank's occupation.

Harry's heart plummeted as Hank's jaw dropped. _Dammit he was going to have Obliviate the doctor. _

"How did you…" Hank trailed off as Harry had the curse on his lips and a forceful knock interrupted both of them.

Logan poked his head into the room and said gruffly, "Are you done with the newbie Blue? Chuck wants him in the Danger Room so he can determine what the kid can do."

"Uh, yes we're done here." Hank said stepping back as Harry reluctantly hopped off of the table.

_I'll have to come back and Obliviate him later and just hope that he doesn't talk to anybody else. _

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Luna greeted him with a hug and a peck to the cheek when Logan led him into the so-called Danger Room. He wasn't quite sure what was so dangerous about it as it was only a larger circular room with a domed ceiling and a "control room" above and towards the back of the room ensuring a good view.

"Now I'm going to set the simulation to a very easy level. What I want the two of you to try and do is destroy as many of the targets as you can using your mutant abilities only. Use whatever other offensive and defensive skills you possess, but try and focus on directing your powers." Professor Xavier's voice echoed in the room.

Harry and Luna agreed, but Harry wondered whether or not this was a good idea. If it got to resemble a war zone he didn't know if he could control his instinctive, wild and very dangerous magic.

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"Professor do you think this is a good idea putting them in the Danger Room right off the bat?" Jean Grey asked worriedly as she shifted little Teddy onto her hip.

"It is certainly the best way to determine the strength of their abilities and how much control they instinctively possess. If it seems like they are tiring or are in real danger I will most certainly stop the proceedings." Charles reassured the redhead in particular and the rest of the X-Men in the room.

Logan snorted in disgust. "Newbies. Ten bucks says they don't last 5 minutes."

Scott grinned. "Ten bucks say they last at least 10."

"You're on One Eye."

Xavier rolled his eyes and started the simulator.

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TBC

le garçon: boy in French

A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. Real life and Facebook are way too addictive. Hope you enjoyed it and leave me a review please. ~Dark Disaster


	4. In Deep Trouble

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my computer.

In Deep Trouble

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Harry looked around the so-called Danger Room and wondered how he managed to get himself into situations like this.

He didn't even know how his mutant abilities worked, or even what they were, and now this crazy Professor wanted them to try and destroy targets with the aforementioned unknown powers? Merlin's hairy balls this was going to be a long day.

A row of human shaped targets popped up in front of Luna on the other side of the Danger Room and Harry took a moment to watch his adopted sister.

The Seer had no problem letting loose bolts of lightning or making baseball shaped electric balls to decimate the targets. With her dueling background it wasn't a surprise that Luna was very accurate in her throws even if the lightning often wouldn't keep its shape long enough to reach a target.

Harry turned his attention from her as a row of targets popped up in front of him. He grimaced slightly. Time to put these strange abilities to good use.

He tried to recall the foreign feelings that had accompanied his previous mutant outbursts, but all he could feel was his magic surging forward ready to obey his whims.

Harry reluctantly pushed the magic away and tried to call that strange force forth. A few of the targets slowly levitated from the floor and then he let them drop, shattering them.

Whew. That kinda made him tired. Harry thought to himself.

Maybe he could call up that energy surge that sometimes occurred after nightmares. Harry focused on the feelings of loss, pain, guilt and regret that war nightmares invoked in him and managed to let loose a shockwave of energy that destroyed every last target in the room.

Luna glared at Harry even as he swayed unsteadily on his feet.

"That was pretty impressive." Professor X's voice drifted down to them from the control room. "Now I'm going to up the intensity level so that the targets move and will attack back."

"What do you think so far?" Xavier asked the others in the command room as he began to set up the next row of targets.

"Luna seems to have a good sense of how to access her powers and how to direct them. I think that once she has more practice she'll have excellent judgment in knowing how to keep up the intensity of her attacks and judging distances." Ororo commented. "We'll practice that and then I think she'll fit right in."

"And Mr. Potter?"

"Ask me again after the next round." Logan grunted.

Xavier raised an eyebrow, but there was only silence from the gruff Canuck. Xavier was surprised normally Logan was quick to dismiss the new mutants as worthless until they had some practice and were a lot more advanced in the use of their abilities. Seeing that Logan wasn't going to say anything more Xavier hit the start button. The mutants turned their attention to their new recruits.

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Just great. Harry thought to himself as the new targets popped up. It's already taking way too long to remember how to activate my stupid abilities and that was against stationary targets. How do I use them against moving targets?

Harry quit his ranting and dodged the robot that was closing in on him. A lightning bolt fizzled and died in his hands before he could attack with it. Growling Harry concentrated his magic within him boosting his speed and allowing him to dodge the targets rather than leave him open for attack as he tried to use his mutant abilities.

He ducked, dodged, rolled and ran from the stupid robots as he tried to call on those stupid powers of his. He recalled the Professor saying that Ororo could call on the weather and he figured making it rain would short-circuit the robots.

The African woman felt like the calm before a thunderstorm and smelled like rain so that is what Harry focused on as he gathered that alien energy, it was wild and resisted his control. But his innate magic was even stronger and he 'herded' that strange energy together, 'packed' it into a ball in the middle of his chest and then concentrated on pushing it out, grinning in triumph as rain clouds appeared out of nowhere and released a torrent of water on the unsuspecting robots.

Harry suddenly felt as he was in more danger from a drenched Luna than the robots if the glare she was sending him meant anything at all. He flashed her a sheepish smile and she rolled her eyes at his antics.

But as soon as she turned back around he placed his hands on his knees and wheezed silently, trying to catch his breath and stop from falling face first into the floor.

"That was wonderful you two," Professor Xavier complimented them, "Now I'm going to up the danger in the simulation one more time just to see what you can do under pressure, so to speak."

Harry groaned. He was positive that if he hadn't had his magic to "recharge" him he would have been plastered face down on the floor after that first use of his mutant powers.

However he didn't have long to contemplate this thought as some weird cat-man sprang towards him. Harry didn't think as he put his war training to good use even as he mentally thanked Snape for the emphasis he put on physical training.

As he wove through the army of people trying to attack him Harry tried to focus on what the other mutant powers he remembered the X-Men having. Scott Summers' ability was the easiest to employ and so Harry focused on the uptight leader and the strength and the power that was concentrated behind Summers' eyes. Releasing the energy, he had the oddest sensation of shooting a laser beam from his eyes yet at the same time still being able to perfectly see. He found that by focusing on the gruff and wild Logan he could access his healing abilities which were useful when those stupid buggers scored a hit on him. Ororo's abilities had been the first he had focused on and found that her weather abilities were coming to him a lot easier and of course were being used against the simulation with great effect. Finally, when Harry was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, both physical and magical, the simulation was turned off and the Danger room became the empty metal room it had been at the beginning.

"That was very well done. You managed to last for almost 40 minutes." Professor Xavier congratulated the two exhausted Brits.

In the control room Scott smirked at a grumpy Logan. "You owe me ten bucks."

Logan growled at him and slapped the offending bill in Scott's outstretched hand before stomping out of the room.

Scott strolled out whistling a victory tune.

Jean and Ororo just looked at each other and said in unison, "Men."

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Harry groaned as he got out of the shower and ran a towel through his hair. That exercise in the Danger Room had really worn him out.

He really hoped the Professor had some idea about what his abilities were and how to access them. Because even being thrown into a completely exotic world at the tender age of eleven and told he had to kill an evil megalomaniac was nothing compared to trying to access his mutant powers.

He studied his appearance in the mirror and noticed that his eyes appeared tired and, if he studied them close enough, the way his hands shook slightly. Trying to force out those strange powers and keep up the glamour to hide Teddy's Metamorphagus abilities were already taking their toll on him. He didn't know how long he could last and he was one of the most powerful wizards now that Dumbledore and Voldemort were dead. Imagine trying to continue with a smaller magical core!

Harry sighed. _Time to stop woolgathering._

He pulled on boxers, a pair of stonewash denim jeans, a white undershirt and a button up royal blue shirt, leaving the top three buttons undone. He quickly toweled off his hair and crossed the hall back to his room.

Teddy smiled up at Harry from his playpen and stretched his arms up, begging to be held. Harry grinned down at his little boy and settled him on his hip.

"Come on Teddy-bear. Let's go find some dinner. I'm starved." Harry said rubbing his nose against Teddy's.

Teddy gurgled happily and snuggled into Harry's chest.

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Harry and Teddy walked into chaos.

At least that was what the dining room resembled.

There were mutants everywhere!

Harry raised one eyebrow as he tightened his hold on Teddy. All these mutants weren't here earlier!

"Evenin' _mon ami_." Gambit greeted the two coming over.

"Good evening." Harry returned the greeting, blushing a little as the Cajun came so close Harry could smell his heady scent of smoke and rum.

"Where did all these people come from?" Harry asked gesturing to the hungry hoard.

"Oh. De students just got back from a field trip ta de city." Gambit explained. "Dey live 'ere 'n take dere lessons 'ere as well."

"Sounds like the boarding school I went to in Scotland." Harry said as he and Gambit found a table and started to serve themselves.

"What was ya school like?" Gambit asked as he watched Harry mash up hamburger and corn for Teddy.

"It was in a restored castle in Scotland, which always made finding our way around fun. My best mate and I got lost and were late on our first day of class because it was so complex. We lived there during the school year for seven years and they divided us into four separate "houses" based on a personality test we took." Harry replied, skillfully editing out the magic part and coaxing Teddy into eating mashed potatoes.

"A castle? Dat doesn't sound like ya everyday school." Gambit said taking a bite of his dinner.

"It was a private school that my parents, my godfathers, one of whom is Teddy's father and pretty much all of my relatives went to. My name was on the roster for enrollment from the moment I was born." Harry said.

"Wait, Teddy's father went dere?" Gambit asked thoroughly confused and slightly hopeful.

"Yeah I know it's confusing. Teddy's father was one of my father's best friends. I always thought of him as my unofficial godfather. Then when Teddy was born Remus named me Teddy's godfather. I decided then and there that he was going to be the most spoiled godchild in the world. But when Remus was murdered I changed my mind and adopted Teddy. So now he's going to have everything I never had." Harry finished softly gazing lovingly down at the little boy banging his spoon in the mashed potatoes.

Gambit studied the young man across from him. He sensed there was more to the story and the young man then what he was told. But that would have to wait until they knew each other better.

Gambit slowly reached out and took a hold of Harry's hand, causing the younger man to look up in surprise. "Remy t'ink dat be one o' de most amazing t'ings he ever hear _cheri_."

Harry stared at Gambit shocked not only by the touch but at his words. No one had ever said taking care of Teddy was amazing. On the contrary, they thought he was crazy for giving up a career as an Auror and the chance to marry a beautiful witch (i.e. Ginny) to raise the son of a destitute werewolf.

And when Gambit started to run the pad of his thumb over the back of his hand, Harry felt a frisson of pure lust shoot through him as he stared into Gambit's hypnotic eyes. He had to get away from the sexy Cajun or he was going to fall hard and fast and he didn't think his heart could handle anymore betrayal.

Gambit smirked to himself when he felt the lust his actions and his words inspired in Harry but frowned at the panic that followed. Had someone hurt him before? It might very well explain the panic lust would cause in a person. Well he would just have to be slow and subtle in his wooing of Harry.

"Mr. Potter may I have a word with you?" Dr. Hank McCoy asked surprising the two with his sudden appearance.

Harry could have hugged the man for breaking the mounting tension between himself and the sexy man across from him. If Hank hadn't appeared he might have done something rash, like kiss Gambit.

"Certainly Dr. McCoy. Now or in a little while?" Harry asked feeding Teddy the last bites of his dinner.

"After you've finished eating, there's no need to rush. Just come on down to the Medical Bay when you are done." Hank said with a smile for the two of them before ambling off.

"Medical business?" Gambit asked raising an eyebrow.

"Sort of. I asked Dr. McCoy earlier about pursuing a medical degree and maybe getting some experience helping him out. I think that's what he wants to go over." Harry replied in between bites of his own dinner.

"Impressive _cheri. _Do ya remember 'ow ta get ta de Med Bay?" Gambit asked.

Harry paused. "Errr….not exactly." He admitted sheepishly.

"'R ya done eatin' 'Arry? Ah'll take ya myself." Gambit offered draining his water glass.

"I'm done. Thanks Remy." Harry said with a crooked smile.

"My pleasure, _cheri._" Gambit replied with his own roguish smile.

Harry had to remind himself to breathe. _I think I'm in deep trouble._

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After Gambit left once he showed him the Med Bay Harry took a deep breath, steeled his nerves and made sure his wand was in his holster for easy access.

"Dr. McCoy?" Harry called out closing the door behind him.

"Actually I believe the proper term of address would be Healer McCoy, but I would much prefer to be called Hank." Dr. McCoy's cultured voice drifted from his office where Gambit had said he would more than likely be waiting.

Harry let out a small sigh of relief. At least the biggest hurdle was out of the way and he wouldn't have to Obliviate the doctor for having told him about magic. Although whether or not he would have to Obliviate him for other reasons remained to be seen.

"You can enter the office you know. I promise I won't bite." Hank's amused voice drifted into Harry's ear interrupting his contemplations.

Blushing, he hurried into the office.

The blue furred Healer was seated in a comfy arm-chair a tea set assembled on the coffee table in front of him.

He gestured for Harry to take a seat in the other arm chair and raised the teapot. "Cup of tea? I promise it's the proper English kind."

Harry smiled happily. "Absolutely. I haven't been here that long but I've already discovered that the tea in the States is far inferior to the stuff we drink in Great Britain." Harry said.

Once the tea was prepared to their liking the two mutant-wizards studied one another unsure of where to begin.

"So…." Harry trailed off as soon as he spoke.

"Perhaps I should begin." Hank said.

Harry nodded, relieved and gestured for Hank to continue.

"My parents are of pureblood lineage, not a particularly wealthy or prestigious family, but they are extraordinarily proud of the fact that they are purebloods with no trace of muggle lineage." Hank began.

"I am the older of two boys and attended Durmstrang in Bulgaria instead of Beauxbatons or Hogwarts. I was average in magical abilities, but I was very studious and meticulous in my course work and graduated among the top three of my class. After school I entered into an apprenticeship with a well-known Healer who was also a friend of the family. Eventually I attained my status of full Healer when I was twenty one." Hank explained.

"However, I didn't get a chance to start work professionally because strange things started to happen to me. Needless to say it was my mutant abilities that were surfacing, leaving me in my current state. I'm sure you can imagine how my parents reacted."

"Let me guess. They ranted and raved, then disowned you and threw you out of the house." Harry said drily thinking about the straight-laced and stuck up Purebloods he knew.

Hank gave a forced half-smile. "That's precisely what they did, accompanied by a lot of screaming, cursing and flying hexes. Luckily I was in the habit of saving my money and had deposited it in my own account along with some heirlooms that were mine by right. So I at least wasn't left destitute."

"What did you do after that?" Harry asked genuinely curious.

Hank smiled. "Much like yourself I got in touch with the goblins who arranged for me to move to the States, provided me with a glamour to hide my new characteristics and I enrolled in medical school. After earning my degree I was able to start working which allowed me to save up money. A few years later I learned about Charles Xavier and the school he had just started for mutants. So after meeting him I agreed to move here, join the X-Men and start working as the school's doctor." Hank explained.

"Does the Professor know you are a wizard?" Harry asked.

"No he doesn't and it's thanks to the goblins. My Occulmency skills are minimal at best and in order to obey the Statue of Secrecy the goblins inserted a, well, shield is the best word I suppose. It keeps any magical thoughts hidden under a layer of 'normal muggle' thoughts. While Xavier is good about not randomly reading people's minds I'm sure something like dragons or potions might catch his attention." Hank said.

"That's true. Good I really didn't want to tell anyone about magic. And if they knew I don't want to go through the whole Look-It's-The-Boy-Who-Lived thing again." Harry said bitterly.

"The war was hard." Hank stated bluntly.

"I don't want to think about it anymore. I gave up so much that now I just want a peaceful life away from the hypocrisy of the magical world." Harry continued.

"I think that's more than understandable." Hank said. "But I do have a question. Why is your son wearing a glamour?"

"Oh Teddy's a Metamorphagus and since he can't control the transformations I don't want to pretend it's a mutant ability. From what the Professor said the X-gene doesn't start to surface until the teens and I don't want Teddy to become a science project." Harry said protectively. "Not only that but he's the son of a werewolf and with the Dark Creature Act going on in Britain I didn't want to chance that someone might recognize him."

"It probably is a good idea to keep his Metamorphagus abilities a secret, but keeping an indefinite glamour up is going to drain your magical reserves fast. Even for someone as powerful as you are." Hank said worriedly.

"I know but I have some potions saved from the war and our potions master that will help boost my reserves and for me eating and sleeping a lot will help keep them higher." Harry said.

"Well, bring Teddy down here during your lessons. We'll set up a playpen for him and you can remove the glamour while you work. That will give you some respite." Hank said frowning.

"Thanks. I could use a hiding place." Harry said. "So when should we begin lessons?"

"Right now."

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Harry didn't even bother with a shower that night. He just changed himself and Teddy and flopped into bed. He was so tired and that was from just beginning Healing knowledge. He was not looking forward to beginning lessons with the Professor tomorrow on how to use his mutant abilities. Tomorrow he would have to….

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Harry woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and energized. Stretching, he contemplated the conversations he had with Remy and Hank the night before. Perhaps it wouldn't be so bad living among mutants.

He blushed as Remy's hypnotic red-ringed eyes floated in his mind. Oh yes, he definitely wouldn't mind staying here.

Harry shook his head to clear away the tantalizing images that danced through his brain. _Enough Potter!_

Resolutely he climbed out of bed, intent on getting Teddy and himself prepared for the long day ahead of them. There would be no more thoughts of handsome, roguish Cajuns that would only, inevitably, lead to heartbreak.

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"Good morning." Harry greeted everyone as he entered the dining room, Teddy perched on his hip.

"Morning." Came the replies from the gathered X-Men in various stages of wakefulness.

Luna greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, a cup of Earl Grey and stole Teddy so that Harry could eat unhindered for once.

Harry helped himself to bacon, scrambled eggs and toast and began to eat with fierce concentration.

In doing so he missed the look of hurt and longing that crossed Remy's face when he saw the casual and affectionate greeting that Luna gave Harry.

Luna, however, did not and smiled knowingly. Soon her brother would be happy and that was what counted the most. After all happiness was savored even more when preceded by longing and hurt.

"Miss Lovegood I think that for today you should work with Storm to acquire control over your mutant abilities." Professor X said, looking at her over the rim of his coffee cup.

Luna smiled and nodded. "Maybe later I'll help you get rid of the Crumpled Snorlacks that are invading your classroom." Luna said to Ororo.

Storm, unsure of what Crumpled Snorlacks were, nodded in agreement. "I could certainly use some help." She replied politely.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Don't overdo it Luna." He said warningly.

"Don't worry so Harry dearest. We'll have to explain about the Nargles to them soon enough." Luna said handing Teddy to Hank and then skipping out of the room, oblivious to the shocked and worried look on Harry's face and the confused mutants.

"What did she mean by that?" Cyclops asked slightly suspicious.

Harry shrugged and tried to desperately shrug off the worry that something would happen to cause them to reveal their magical heritage to the mutants. "Don't mind Luna. She prefers to speak in riddles and code to confuse people. And no matter how strange she sounds I wouldn't change anything about her." Harry defended the eccentric Seer. "Besides if there was anything to worry about she would have said something." Harry finished.

"Ah. Well then Mr. Potter, once you've finished breakfast come up to my study so we can work on your control over your own powers." Xavier said willing to relinquish the questioning, for now at least.

Harry grimaced as he tried to swallow the forkful of eggs that turned to paste in his mouth at Xavier's words. He was so not looking forward to this.

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A few hours later Harry collapsed on the sofa in Xavier's office, dripping sweat and muscles shaking from exhaustion and over-exertion.

Charles glanced worriedly at the new mutant and handed him a glass of water.

"That wasn't bad for your first attempts." He offered the panting Brit.

"Yeah but it wasn't exactly a walk in the park." Harry retorted, slowly sipping from the glass.

"I agree but you won't gain complete control for a while. Especially since you just recently discovered your mutant abilities." Xavier replied trying to keep his new pupil from feeling too discouraged.

"Yeah but have you had any other mutant have this much trouble?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Well, no. But then again their problem seemed to be more over control rather than being in touch with their abilities. Of course it helped that they had very straightforward abilities. Yours is intriguing and one I haven't encountered before." Xavier explained.

"Yeah well I've always been a freak." Harry said bitterly and before he could censor himself.

Xavier's eyebrows shot up faster than you could blink. There was a whole story behind this one comment. Perhaps if he could get the young man to talk about it, he might find a way to help him.

Harry frowned to himself. He couldn't keep being careless. Despite what Luna said (did she See it?) he wasn't going to reveal anything to these people if he could help it.

"Sorry Professor. I just tend to get really grumpy and sarcastic when I'm feeling stressed out." Harry offered as an answer instead of the entire truth.

Xavier was disappointed, though he didn't show it. Maybe once he stayed in the Mansion for a while longer he would begin to trust in the X-Men enough to confide in them. In the meantime Charles would do all he could to help the young man gain the confidence and control he needed in dealing with his strange ability.

"Don't worry Mr. Potter. We'll figure it out eventually, we always do." Xavier assured him.

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After taking a shower and relaxing his tense muscles Harry went in search of Luna and Teddy.

It took a little bit of searching and some help from the various students, but eventually he located the two along with Jean Grey in the kitchen.

"Harry! How did your lessons go?" Luna asked not looking up from where she was making silly faces with Teddy.

"Eh. Okay I guess." Harry responded noncommittally. Though he smiled when Teddy laughed at one of Luna's faces.

"Oh by the way. The shipping company delivered Sirius' motorcycle here per your request." Luna said.

"Shipping company?" Harry asked frowning. Why in Merlin's name would they use a shipping company when they could just shrink it.

Luna looked at him.

Oh. Right. Stupid.

"Oh I forgot about that." Harry said trying to cover up for his stumble. "Where did they put it?"

"In the garage with the rest of the cars." Luna said.

"Do you know anyone who might be able to help me out with my motorcycle?" Harry asked Jean. "It was my godfather's and I want to be able to use it and take care of it properly." He explained to the red-head.

"You should talk to Gambit or Logan about that." Jean replied. "They are the only motorcycle riders around here. In fact I think if you hurry you can catch Gambit in the garage right now." She offered.

"Thanks. I'll go do that." Harry replied and hurried out the room before the heat rising to his cheeks would beg some embarrassing questions.

He certainly wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to spend some time with the man that with one look had him captivated.

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"Gambit, are you in here?" Harry called out upon entering the huge garage.

"Ah be back 'ere." Gambit's voice echoed from the back of the shop.

Harry threaded his way through the multitude of cars and bikes before finding one with a pair of legs sticking out from it.

"What do ya need?" Gambit asked still hidden underneath the car.

"Well my motorcycle arrived here today and I was wondering if you would be willing to teach me how to ride and take care of it." Harry asked nervously.

"Dat beauty is ya bike?" Gambit asked emerging from underneath the body of the car.

Harry forgot how to speak.

Gambit was shirtless and when he stood up, lean muscles flexed underneath golden skin making Harry just want to let his hands wander across that glorious chest and stomach.

Jerking slightly Harry replied to Gambit's question. "Yeah it belonged to my godfather and now it's mine."

"Belonged?" Gambit questioned looking down at Harry.

"Yeah. He, um, he passed away a few years ago." Harry replied guilt filling his chest as he thought about Sirius.

"Ah'm sorry _cheri_." Gambit said a hand coming up to cup Harry's cheek.

Harry's breathe caught in his throat at the unexpected touch and he swore that his heart stopped when Gambit rubbed his thumb comfortingly over Harry's cheek. Before he could say something Gambit broke the silence.  
"Come on then _cheri. _We got a lot o' work ta do." Gambit told him, turning and heading over to where Sirius' bike stood.

Harry exhaled rapidly even though his eyes were transfixed to Gambit's rippling back muscles and the lone drop of sweat trailing down his back and into the waistband of his jeans. Merlin how he wanted to be that sweat drop right now… Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Ya comin' _cheri?" _Remy questioned.

Oh yeah. He was in deep shit.

Unlike the last several times though, the threat wasn't against his life, but rather his virginity.

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A/N: Sorry for the long wait and hope you enjoyed it. Next chapter will introduce the X-Men 2 storyline, along with a few twists, wizarding-style! Please leave me a review and let me know what you think.

~Dark Disaster


	5. Romance and Abilities

A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed, favorite and/or alerted. It really made me happy! Hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry for the wait but hope the length makes up for it!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nothing I tell you.

Romance and Abilities

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BEEP! BEEP!

Groaning Harry flailed about, eyes still closed, and managed through sheer luck to turn off his alarm clock.

Harry blearily opened his eyes and studied the ceiling. Merlin he was tired.

These past few weeks had been a huge drain on his energy.

He was studying medi-wizardry with Hank in order to earn his certification, he was taking care of Teddy, he was trying to gain control over his mutant abilities with Professor Xavier and he was taking motorcycle lessons with Remy.

Harry loved the lessons with Hank. The blue furred doctor made things interesting and he could also let down the draining glamours on Teddy and call Dobby to look after his son while he studied.

On the other hand his lessons with the Professor were not going well at all. He could call upon the weather like Storm, shoot laser beams from his eyes like Cyclops and heal his wounds like Logan. But that was it.

The Professor was confused because he told Harry that the young Brit was a very powerful mutant, but he had no idea as to what his abilities were exactly and why he couldn't access them easily.

Harry knew there were more to his abilities as well; he could feel them coiled deep within him, near where his magical core lay. His magic had always felt like an old friend. A sometimes capricious, touchy and powerful friend, but a friend nonetheless whom he could always count on. On the other hand, his mutant abilities felt distant, suspicious and dangerous. Harry wasn't sure what else he could do.

But the lessons with Remy….

Ah the lessons with Remy….

Harry was pretty sure he had a sappy grin on his face and a star-struck expression in his eyes.

Learning to ride a motorcycle with the sexy Cajun was both a joy and a hardship.

A joy because he got to learn more about the man and he got to spend one-on-one time with the man he had a serious crush on.

And a challenge because Remy was a very hands-on kind of guy. That is to say that the Cajun was constantly touching him even if it was just a pat on the back or a hand on the shoulder. And of course when Gambit started to teach Harry how to ride the bike the Cajun was often seated behind him to help out.

All that glorious muscle pressed firmly against his back and he wasn't allowed to touch….After all he didn't even know whether Gambit even liked men in a more than friendly way.

Sometimes life was very unfair.

Like now when he had to drag his protesting body from bed in order to eat breakfast before he had to meet the Professor for more lessons.

And Murphy's Lawa decided it wanted to play so since Harry was feeling under the weather, Teddy was going to have a cold which made the two year old cranky and whiny which in turn only made Harry feel worse.

Curse you Luck and Fate.

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"Morning Harry!" Luna chirped from her place next to Logan.

Harry just grunted in response while Teddy buried his face into Harry's shoulder.

"Oh dear. It looks like you two had a rough night." Ororo observed.

Harry let his forehead connect with the table. "Teddy has a cold and therefore has to make sure that I know this….in the loudest and most annoying way possible." Harry explained to the sympathetic woman.

Everyone chuckled at that until Logan started suddenly. "What did he do?" Logan growled.

Harry looked up from the table in surprise along with the occupants of the kitchen.

"What was what?" Jean asked.

"The kid's hair changed!" Logan stated staring suspiciously at Teddy, who only stared back innocently.

Harry swore to himself and focused on pouring power into the glamours surrounding Teddy.

"Oh that happens a lot in our family. Almost every child on the Black side has what we affectionately call 'two-tone' hair. For about the first four years our hair won't make up its mind as to what color it will stay as and many times it looks like we have bi colored hair." Harry said laughing. "It's the best thing ever. I really like the picture of my godfather where the front part of his hair is blonde and the rear is pitch black. Though by the time he was six it stayed a chestnut brown color." Harry explained quickly spinning a lie, err a very lame lie, to protect Teddy.

Logan did not look convinced, but the other mutants thought it was a hilarious story.

"So what colors were your hair?" Scott asked teasingly.

"Oh I was probably the only baby with red and gray hair." Harry shot back laughingly. "Luckily though it ended up being black 'til I decided to start a tri-colored trend."

Logan frowned. The kid smelled of lies and nervousness which did not make Logan happy. And he could have sworn that the kid's hair was bubblegum pink for a split second….And the moment that he mentioned the color change there was a strange surge of energy and a heady scent of power in the air. Raising the coffee mug to his mouth Logan decided that he was going to do some investigating.

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Harry was drop dead tired.

He had just finished another exhausting three hours of mutant lessons with Professor X and he was still nowhere closer to figuring out his powers. Well, at least he could manipulate the weather with ease.

Although remembering Professor Xavier's words at the end of lessons made him feel slightly more optimistic.

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"_Harry, I do feel as though your powers are strangely familiar and I am positive that as soon as I figure out what they are we are both going to kick ourselves for being so blind." _

"_But it seems I have so many abilities but you yourself said it was extremely rare for a mutant to have more than two powers, three is extremely rare and more than that is practically unheard of."_

"_I know, but I feel there is a common denominator here somewhere that we are overlooking. But for now, why don't you go relax. I know Gambit, Logan and some of the kids were going to start a basketball tournament." _

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So Harry and Teddy were heading out to the backyard to hunt down the sexy Cajun…errrr…..to watch the basketball game.

Yeah, that's why they were going outside.

Harry shifted Teddy onto his hip and made sure that he had the picnic blanket and Teddy's stuffed wolf in the crook of his arm as they approached the basketball court.

Harry forced himself to ignore the shouts of the players as he got himself and Teddy settled onto the blanket.

Only once Teddy was happily playing with "Woofie" did Harry allow himself to focus on the players.

…..

Harry was so glad he had practice in controlling his facial expressions because he would have been doing a very good impression of the howling playboy wolf he saw on a muggle cartoon show.

Gambit was shirtless, sweaty and showing off all that glorious muscle as he weaved with ease between the players to make a slam dunk that, due to the celebrating by some and the groans of the other players, was the winning basket.

Teddy hearing the cheering and general excitement started clapping and gurgling happily, which inevitably drew the attention of the players.

Gambit seeing Harry sitting on the blanket and Teddy happily playing next to him, sauntered over with a sexy smirk. He flopped down next to Harry on the blanket and threw one arm around the young Brits shoulders.

""ow ya doin' _cheri_?" Gambit asked smiling down at Harry.

"Mmmm….I'm tired." Harry replied. "I suppose I should congratulate you on winning your game."

"T'anks _cheri_. We 'ad a lot o' fun." Gambit stated watching Teddy crawl into Harry's lap.

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Harry thought he was pretty darn close to heaven.

Teddy was curled up in his lap happily chewing on Woofie's ear, Gambit's arm was around his shoulders holding him close and the smell of sweat, smoke and power from Remy was intoxicating.

"I was going to ask you something." Harry stated to Gambit and then tried to think what it was.

Harry yawned silently. This feels nice….

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"What were ya goin' ta ask?" Remy questioned looking down at Harry when it got quiet all of a sudden.

He smirked.

Harry was resting his head against his chest, fast asleep.

And Teddy decided that since his daddy wasn't paying him any attention he would see if this new guy would provide entertainment.

Remy of course obliged him by holding him close, without disturbing Harry, and listened to the little boy babble on about 'Arry', 'Emy' 'wove' and 'Woofie'.

Remy smiled. Was this what it was like to have a family? He really hoped he could prove to his soul-mate that Remy was the only one for him. Smiling, Remy closed his eyes and let himself bask in the sensation of being wanted.

"You're going to be so good for him." A voice stated suddenly from somewhere off to the side.

Remy opened his eyes with a start though instinct managed to keep him from jerking in order not to disturb the two British males sleeping comfortably on his chest.

He turned his head slightly as the speaker came into his line of sight.

He raised an eyebrow at Harry's dreamy eyed blonde haired companion.

"Ya aren't angry dat ah might take 'im from ya?" Gambit asked softly, a clear challenge in his words.

To his surprise, the blonde merely laughed.

"Oh Harry dear isn't my boyfriend, silly Cajun. He's my brother and neither of us are interested in one another romantically. The one I'm waiting for will be here shortly anyways." Luna said with a knowing smile.

Remy stared at her without understanding for a moment. "Ya 're siblings?" He repeated, just to make sure.

Luna laughed again. "Absolutely. Besides even if we weren't and I did have a thing for him it wouldn't work out. I'm the wrong gender to attract his attention. He needs someone to protect him for once." She said a sad smile on her face.

Remy pondered this for a moment and let a hand gently stroke Harry's hair. "Ya don't mind dat ah want ta court ya bro'er?"

Luna huffed. "Of course not. The two of you are perfect for one another. You'll have to work out some issues of course, but nothing insurmountable. Just as a warning though, if you hurt him I'll sick Bill after you and he knows quite a few ways to make someone suffer." She ended with a warning. "Not that you'll hurt him, but still."

And with that the strange blonde skipped away leaving behind a very confused Cajun.

Finally Remy decided that he didn't understand strange blondes and much preferred to be sprawled out on the ground, his soul-mate cuddled close and the adorable baby boy held protectively next to him.

This was the good life.

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Harry was starting to get slightly cool so he snuggled closer to the warmth that he was lying next to and proceeded to drift back to sleep when he was interrupted by a husky voice.

"Comfortable _cheri?" _

Harry's eyes snapped open in surprise and he struggled to sit up but steel bands encircled him and held him against the muscular chest he had been using as a pillow.

"Remy?" Harry asked hopeful and embarrassed at the same time.

"Da one 'n only." Came the amused reply.

"What happened?" Harry asked rubbing his eyes.

"Ya fell asleep on me, _cheri_. Guess ya must 'ave been tired, eh?"

"I'm so sorry, Gambit! I didn't mean to honest! I'm just tired and I didn't realize just how tired I was and….."

Remy shut the babbling Brit up by squeezing him closer and pressing a gentle kiss on the top of his head. "Don' worry 'bout it 'Arry. If ah didn' want ya sleepin' on me ah would 'ave woken ya up."

Harry blushed, thrown off balance by the mutant's words and kiss. Did that mean Remy liked him as more than a friend?

"Remy, I….I….don't want to get hurt again." Harry finally spit out, not meeting the Cajun's eyes.

Remy rolled over and braced himself on his forearms so he hovered over Harry.

Harry's startled emerald green eyes locked with Remy's determined and red-ringed eyes.

"_Ma cheri_. Remy will do watevah ya need me ta do ta prove 'ow much ah want ya. If ya need some space o' ya want me ta do dis." Here Remy paused and let his lips barely brush over Harry's own. "O' Remy be more dan willin' ta do dis." And Remy sealed his lips over Harry's for a heart-stopping, soul-stealing and very cliché kiss.

Harry's hands tangled in Gambit's hair holding his head down and he returned the kiss enthusiastically.

Finally, however, air became an issue and the two broke apart, foreheads resting lightly against each other breathing heavily.

"I want this too." Harry said softly, finally giving up his internal struggle. Even though Blaise and his former friends had betrayed him, he wanted to build a life with Remy and he could no longer deny himself. Of course the blinding smile and deep kiss that he received for his words were also worth giving in.

Remy rolled them over so that Harry was lying on top of his chest and Teddy, who had woken up, could curl into Remy's side "Woofie" clutched in his arms while he made babbling sounds at the two men.

The two men lay there for a few minutes simply basking in the fact that they were now together. Harry felt in heaven now that he had the right to touch Remy and the Cajun's hand running through his hair felt divine. He had never felt this relaxed with Ginny for sure and even Blaise…..

Harry sighed and pressed his cheek harder against Remy's chest.

"Wat's de matter _cheri?" _Gambit questioned feeling the tension rise in Harry.

"I'm just afraid…" Harry said trailing off, not sure how to articulate his fears without sounding like a wimp.

"Of being hurt again." Remy finished for him. "Who is de idjit who 'urt ya?"

"Well I thought he really cared for me and that even though we had some old…prejudices….to get over that we could really make our relationship work. But I guess he was only using me for what I could give him and that since I wouldn't jump into bed with him right away he found someone else to sleep with." Harry said bitterly. The hopes and dreams that had been suppressed during the war and had reemerged after the war were crushed by his friends' betrayals and the cold-hearted rejection by his lover.

"I just don't want the past to happen again, which is a lot for me to ask, I guess." Harry said cynically.

Remy frowned at that. There was so much that he didn't know about his soul-mate, but he would gently coax it out of him in time. "Ah can't promise not ta 'urt ya _cheri_ 'cuz ah don't know de future, but ah can promise ya ah believe in loyalty. When ah am wit' someone ah give my 'eart fo' good." Remy said. "Dere will be no one else 'cept ya 'Arry. Well, ya 'n Teddy." Remy amended.

Harry smiled and for the first time he felt that he could actually believe in what the Cajun was saying. That maybe this time he would be able to escape betrayal.

"Ah know we 'ave a lot o' t'ings ta work on. My past ain't pretty an' ah know ya 'ave t'ings dat 'ave 'appened ta ya, but we will work t'ings out as dey 'appen my 'Arry, 'n dis ah can promise."

Harry closed his eyes against the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes. Composing himself he pressed his lips to Gambit's and lost himself in that kiss. "I believe you." Was all he said.

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Gambit adjusted Teddy on his hip as he laughed at Harry's comment as the two entered the living room later that night. The two had snuck food from the kitchen and had basked in the other's company and Teddy's antics before heading back to reality.

They entered the room where several younger mutants were playing Twister with the Professor as the amused caller/referee. Harry was looking forward to meeting some of the younger mutants and maybe find some new friends.

He smiled as Gambit made amusing faces at Teddy, but his Seeker reflexes and Hero complex kicked in, almost instinctively, as he saw the girl with a white streak in her hair trip and was in danger of smacking her head against the sharp-edged corner of the desk.

He didn't even hear the shouted "Don't touch her skin" from several people as he grabbed her bicep, exposed when her loose fitting and flowing sleeves flew up, and around her neck to keep her head from smacking against the hard wood.

However, the moment he touched her he felt something draining off his energy. Well, he was already expending way too much of it on Teddy's glamours and on figuring out his mutant powers to let some outside force siphon it off. So he firmly told 'it' to stop and reinforced that command with a surge of his own mutant energy.

It stopped and Harry helped the girl back on to her feet and only then noticed the incredulous looks on the other mutants' faces and the worried and slightly scared look of the girl.

"What?" Harry asked confused as everyone continued to stare.

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Rogue was laughing as she, Kitty, Bobby and John were playing Twister with the Professor calling out the combinations.

"Left foot to green." Professor X said.

Crap. Bobby got to the green dot closest to her so she had to shift her foot to the one farthest from her. Bracing herself she started to slide her foot over, made it to the green dot, tried to stand up to keep her balance, but her right foot and hand slipped and she ended up tumbling backwards.

For some reason though she heard everyone one yelling "don't touch her skin" and then she felt a hand on her bare neck and bicep supporting her. Surprised and resigned to having unintentionally drained another mutant she was helped to feet and stunned to find a healthy male mutant looking at her with concern.

He didn't have that sickly gray look that mutants got after being exposed to her own mutant ability and he wasn't extremely exhausted if not dead like regular humans. Who was he?

"What?" the man asked looking at her and the others with a confused expression on his face.

This was the signal for Gambit to run to him. "'r ya alright _cheri?_"

"Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be?" With that accent he could only be British.

"Gambit is this your sou-" She started to say, but he cut her off.

"My boyfriend 'Arry." Gambit replied glaring slightly at her. Oh. Obviously he hadn't explained the whole soul-mate thing to the Brit.

"I was going to say sexy British mutant that you were teaching to ride a motorcycle, but boyfriend is much shorter." Rogue said smiling.

"I believe we were all worried about you Mr. Potter because Rogue's mutant ability drains others' of their energy when they come into contact with her bare skin." The Professor explained seeing as no one else was going to chime in.

"Oh. So you were the one that was trying to drain my energy. I just told your ability to stop." Harry said already waving the incident off.

But the Professor wasn't as convinced and thought back to one of their training sessions when Storm was present.

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"_Try again Harry." Storm encouraged gently. _

_Harry sighed and tried to make his abilities do something other than copy what Storm was doing. And it wasn't working! Merlin's balls this wasn't working. His bloody powers would not cooperate with him at all! Why were her powers working when his weren't? It wasn't fair!_

"_Alright Storm try something different than breezes. Maybe make it rain in here." The Professor suggested. "Then Harry can attempt to summon a breeze to blow it away instead of creating more rain." _

_Storm nodded and her eyes rolled back in her head like always, but this time nothing happened. She stopped puzzled, and tried to summon her abilities again. It felt like they were there, but she couldn't make them do anything. She looked at the Professor wondering if he was doing something. _

"_Professor I don't think my powers are working." She said starting to get scared. _

"_Good. If mine don't work I don't see why yours should." Harry's muffled voice drifted over from where his face was buried in the couch cushions. _

_The Professor had looked thoughtful. "Harry why don't you get some rest. It seems like the both of you are tired." Harry had happily agreed and left the room, but the Professor had motioned for Storm to stay. _

_He waited a moment or two and then asked Storm to use her abilities now. _

_The wind she summoned blew the books off the shelf. _

_Surprised she had said, "Maybe I was just imagining it." _

"_Or you were just tired." The Professor said._

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But this was no accident and now all of a sudden the jigsaw pieces fell into place. Harry _copying _Logan's, Scott's, Ororo's gifts. _Blocking _Storm's and Luna's abilities. Harry didn't have a million abilities he only had _two._

It all made sense now.

"Rogue thank you for your help." The Professor said.

"But what did I do?" She asked confused.

"You've just helped me figure out what Mr. Potter's abilities are. I can't believe I didn't figure this out sooner." He said shaking his head.

"What are they?" Harry piped in anxious to finally make some progress with his abilities.

"From what I've seen you have two abilities. It seems like you are a copycat, you can copy other mutants' abilities once you know what they are." Charles began.

Oh that made sense. It explained to Harry why he could imitate other mutants', like Storm's, abilities, but not do something original.

"And it seems that your other ability is one that blocks or negates the abilities of other mutants. We'll have to find out what are the limits are of your abilities of course, but I can tell that you are going to be one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful mutant I have ever met." The Professor said.

Harry stormed out.

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Charles knew that was the wrong thing to say once he got a look at Mr. Potter's face. If only he knew a little bit more about their British mutants!

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Harry stormed down the hall, tears in his eyes. He couldn't do this, not again.

"Oh, Harry." He heard Luna's voice say.

"I can't do this Luna, not again. I won't be the freak who should've died with his parents or the amazing hero with unlimited power that can save us all. I just want to fall in love and raise a family. Is that so much to ask?" Harry asked dejectedly, leaning his forehead on Luna's shoulder.

"It'll all work out in the end. After all the bigger the trials the happier the ending, right?" Luna asked rhetorically, attempting to cheer Harry up.

"I just don't want this to be a repeat of what happened after the war, Luna. I don't think my heart can stand anymore betrayals." Harry said tiredly.

Luna didn't know how to make her brother believe in the visions she saw of his future, the one where he and Gambit were together and raised a family. He would only think she was attempting to inject false hope in him. So she would gently guide him, and Gambit, to their happy ending. Just as long as those pesky troublemakers stayed out of the picture.

So she just patted his shoulder, kissed his forehead and gently pushed him towards his room.

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War?

Freak?

Logan hummed to himself. What were they talking about? The kid talked like he had done something miraculous and was treated like a hero. But he was so young and he didn't discover his abilities till his twenties. There were too many things these Brits were hiding and Logan didn't like the sound of it. One way or another he would get to the bottom of it.

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Harry lay curled up on his bed staring at the wall. Logically, he knew he was overreacting to the Professor's words. But on the other hand, he just couldn't deal with the pressure again. Charles' words had evoked the hero worship and hero bashing that he had endured throughout school and the war. Just because he was "all-powerful" and a "public" figure, everyone thought they had a right to have a say in his life and his actions.

He couldn't make mistakes or even make life decisions (i.e. raising Teddy) without people voicing an opinion about what he should or shouldn't do. He ran away from England to escape that kind of pressure and now he was afraid that his life was about to become the same as it was in England. Ron had always wanted the fame and money that came with the Boy-Who-Lived status, all he had ever wanted was a family of his own. Why was that so hard to come by?

KNOCK, KNOCK

Harry hastily wiped his face and called out, "Come in." He had to smile when Remy walked in Teddy on his hip.

Teddy smiled and cooed at Harry, arms stretched out towards him. "He was a missin' 'is daddy." Remy explained shifting Teddy so Harry could take him.

"I'm sorry for rushing out so soon, but I just couldn't….couldn't…." Harry stuttered.

But Remy only stepped closer and hugged Harry, and Teddy, close to him. "Shhh, _cheri_. Ya don' 'ave ta 'plain ta me."

He couldn't stand it anymore, there was no one that he could depend on that cared for him who wasn't family. He broke down in tears, feeling safe in Remy's arms.

Remy wasn't fazed at all. He had rather expected it with the way Harry's emotions were bouncing all over the place. So he removed his shoes and Harry's and maneuvered the three of them onto the bed. And he held the two most important people in his life to his chest all through the night.

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The security guard at the White House visitor's checkpoint was bored. It wasn't that he wanted there to be a security problem but he wished that something interesting would happen to break up the monotony of the boring tourists who entered the White House on a daily basis.

Huh?

A noise broke the guard's inner monologue and he looked up to see a man in a trench coat, hat and yellow sunglasses. Well, that was interesting attire.

"Excuse me sir. Are you lost?"

The man didn't say anything, but only raised his head and looked at the security guard showing a blue-skinned face and demonic yellow eyes.

What the-?

The guard brought his gun up only to have the mutant vanish in a cloud of smoke and re-appear in time to slam his feet into the guard's chest knocking him down allowing the mutant to race down the hall towards the Oval Office.

The guard fumbled for his earpiece and alerted the rest of security, "Perimeter breach at visitor's checkpoint."

Security guards rushed through the halls trying to locate the intruder and only encountered flashes of blue smoke and legs vanishing around a corner.

"Multiple subjects."

Several security personnel burst into the Oval Office. Pushing out the President's secretary one shouted, "Mr. President, security breach."

More gunfire came from the hallway.

"Let's get him out to the car." One security guard said referring to the President.

"Exits not clear. We don't know how many there are."

The guards surrounded the President ready to protect him.

More shooting and shouts from the officers.

"There's something in the corridor!"

"To the shelter!"

"Negative not clear."

The shouts, shots and smoke were getting louder and closer.

"It's outside the Oval Office."

"Lock this place down!"

The guards had the President surrounded and their guns trained at the door, not entirely sure what, or whom, they were up against.

And then the mutant kicked in the door, appearing in a cloud of blue smoke and disappearing again as the guards let loose a barrage of bullets.

"My god!" The President exclaimed when he saw the 3 fingered, blue-skinned, yellow-eyed mutant with a pointed tail single handedly taking out the well-trained Secret Service men.

Finally, the invading mutant knocked down all the guards and had the President pinned to the desk.

The President felt a shiver of fear run through him as the mutant reached over his shoulder and took a hold of the knife that his tail was wrapped around.

I'm going to die.

Bang!

The mutant, a look of surprise on face, disappeared in a cloud of blue smoke; the bullet that struck his shoulder from the security leader caused him to drop the knife and let the President live.

Mutant Freedom Now!

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A/N: Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please leave me a review it brightens up my day! ~Dark Disaster

A: Murphy's Law: "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong".


	6. Trouble in Paradise

A/N: So I am currently working overseas for the next two years and depending on internet availability and my teaching schedule updates might be slow in coming. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed, I really appreciated it. Enjoy!

Trouble in Paradise

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Harry was not entirely clear on how he got roped into this as he kept an eye on the three rowdy teenagers. He shifted Teddy onto his hip and followed Bobby, John and Rogue to the museum cafeteria.

After breakfast he was getting ready to head downstairs to see Hank for his daily lesson, but was intercepted by Jean and Storm. Several convoluted statements, Teddy's name and somehow he had agreed to be a chaperone on this museum trip. Gambit, the traitor, had only laughed at his predicament and then kissed him before sending him on his way.

Well, at least he only had three teenagers to keep an eye on. After all how much trouble could they get into?

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One of these days he really was going to learn his lesson and keep from asking questions that would tempt fate. Harry thought ruefully.

"My brother asked you a simple question." The brunette teenage guy said.

"Yeah why are you being such a dick?" The other questioned.

"Yeah. Why are you being a dick?" The first repeated.

"Because I can." John replied smirking.

Bobby snickered at John's reply.

Harry rolled his eyes. Oh dear. Teenage drama and testosterone. Not a good combination.

"Can I have a light?"

John paused to consider this, lighting his cigarette lighter and studying it. "Hmmm. Sorry. I can't help you out, pal." He flipped it closed just to add fuel to the fire so to speak.

"John, knock it off." Rogue chastised.

John just continued laughing.

"Why don't you stop showing off?" Bobby asked, looking a little too superior.

"For her? I can't help it if she's excited." John replied, ready to start teasing Bobby about Rogue.

"I don't think she's excited." Bobby replied. One of the teenagers leered at Rogue. She gave him a disgusted look.

Oh dear, time to step in. "Bobby stop antagonizing John. John give the guy a light." Harry ordered, hoping to stop the fight before it got started.

Except that only worsened the situation. One guy grabbed the lighter out of John's hand and went to light his cigarette while the other stood in John's way. "Yeah why don't you listen to your babysitter. He must be really dumb to be put in charge of you." The other teenager said sarcastically.

Harry's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Bloody hell! What had he done to be insulted?

"Hey don't talk about Harry that way!" Both Rogue and John cried out, insulted on his behalf.

"Oh yeah. What are you going to do about?" Cigarette asked.

Uh-oh. Before Harry could move John winked his eye, causing the tiny cigarette flame to flare up in the guy's face and in the process his sleeve caught fire.

John laughed as the other patrons jumped out of the way and the teenager flailed trying to put out the flames.

Bobby quickly used a stream of ice crystals to douse the fire, causing everyone to stare at them in shock and start muttering.

Harry went for his wand, needing it to cast Obliviate on such a large group of people when everyone just froze.

"Bobby, what did you do?" Rogue asked concerned. John waved his hand in front of one of the two teenage boys, but the other boy didn't respond.

"I didn't do this." Bobby retorted.

"No. I did." Professor Xavier said as he rolled into the cafeteria. "And the next time you feel like showing off, don't." He chastised the two boys.

"_Breaking news. We're coming to you live from Washington where there has been an attack in the Oval Office of the White House. Details are still coming in, but we've been informed that the president and the vice-president were not harmed. Sources say the attack involved one or more mutants."_

"I think it's time to leave Professor." Scott said.

"I think you're right." The Professor said upon seeing the TV headline.

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Back at the school Harry herded the three miscreant teenagers off to their room and then hurried to his so he could get cleaned up before the meeting. He set Teddy down in the playpen and stripped off his shirt and started riffling through his drawers in search of a clean shirt.

"Mm mm, dat's a wonderful sight ta walk in on."

Harry straightened up surprised and looked behind him. His sexy Cajun was leaning against the doorframe and studying him.

Harry offered him a smile and turned back to grab the shirt he had selected. "So how was your day?" Harry asked turning back around to face Remy, only to find himself boxed in by strong arms.

"Borin' 'n long wit'out ya darlin'." Remy purred, leaning down to brush a kiss on Harry's forehead.

"Well, thanks to John my day was rather exciting." Harry said teasing Remy into misinterpreting his statement.

Gambit raised his eyebrow and pressed his lips hard against Harry's coaxing them apart so he could slip his tongue inside that delectable mouth.

Harry moaned as Remy rolled his hips against his own and decided he would continue to tease Remy if this was the result. He wrapped his arms around Remy's neck and pressed himself close against his muscular frame.

One of Remy's hands slid around to the back of Harry's head tugging on his hair and exposing his neck so he could nibble on that delicious expanse of skin. His other hand slipped down Harry's back and cupped his ass.

Things would probably have gone a heck of a lot further between the two intertwined men if it wasn't for the airborne toy that smacked into the back of Remy's head and Teddy's laughter.

Remy reluctantly pulled away from Harry and glanced back at the mischievous little boy. Remy smiled and said "Ah guess he wasn't too 'appy 'bout bein' ignored." He headed towards the boy who was standing with outstretched arms waiting to be picked up.

Gambit settled the boy on his hip and looked back at Harry, who by now had pulled on a clean button up shirt and brushed his hair so that he looked presentable.

"That's okay we have to get downstairs anyways. The Professor called a meeting and said we all need to be there. I think it's about the assassination attempt on the President." Harry explained.

"Alright _cheri_. Let's go."

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"My opinion? Magneto's behind this." Scott said to the group as they sat in Xavier's office.

"Who's Magneto?" Harry asked a little confused.

"Magneto, or Eric Lensherr, is a strong mutant who can manipulate metal. He and the Professor used to work together to provide training for mutants, but their different opinions on how non-mutants should be dealt with caused them to split apart. Magneto wants mutants to be out in the open and rule over humans while the Professor believes we can co-exist peacefully." Gambit explained softly to Harry while the others continued to debate.

_He sounds a lot like Voldemort and his goals of pureblood supremacy._

"No, I don't think so Scott." Jean said.

"While Eric is capable of organizing something like this from prison for him it would be irrational. It would only hurt his goal of mutant prosperity." Charles said.

"You mean superiority." Scott corrected.  
"You're right. If Eric had his way." Xavier acknowledged.

"Of course you know how the government will respond. They'll reintroduce the Registration Act." Storm said bitterly.

"Or worse. The President could declare a state of emergency. Place every mutant in the country under arrest." The Professor continued.

Leaning against the wall, Harry stiffened when he heard that the American government would introduce something that sounded so similar to the Dark Creature Registration Act. Guess muggles and wizards were more alike than the latter would like to admit. He wondered if the American Wizarding government would step in or if they considered mutants muggles as well. Maybe he would swing in to Gringotts and talk to Bill about this.

"Do you think the assassin was working alone?" Jean questioned.

"Well, we'll only know that if we find him before the authorities do. I've been trying to track him using Cerebro, but his movements are inexplicably erratic. When I have more exact coordinates Storm, Jean, I'll need you to take the jet and try and pick him up." Xavier said.

Suddenly the door swung open and Luna twirled gracefully into the room. "His name is Kurt Wagner also known as Nightcrawler. He's staying in an abandoned church in Boston, Massachusetts. When Storm and Jean go to pick him up I'll go with you. That way I can help keep the Snorlacks from taking over his mind again." Luna said before turning around and leaving before anyone had a chance to say anything.

Almost as one they looked at Harry for an explanation.

Harry only shrugged. "That's Luna for you. She just knows things and she's never wrong. I'd listen to her."

Xavier studied him. "Does she have another mutant ability? Clairvoyance or something similar?"

"I don't believe so," Harry said wondering how to explain without revealing her Seer abilities, "I'd call it more of a family trait. Her mother was the same. I tell myself her brain lives in the future while the rest of us are in the present." Harry shrugged.

Logan sniffed the air discretely. The boy was lying again. He could smell it along with a sense of protectiveness. So he was lying to protect the girl. He added that to his growing mental list of suspicious points against the two Brits. If that list got any longer Logan was going to get to the bottom of it with his favorite means of persuasion, violence.

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"Stay here." Storm said to Luna as the jet touched down in an abandoned lot near the Boston church. "We'll go in first to make sure that he's not going to hurt anyone." Storm continued.

Luna rolled her eyes, already knowing that he wasn't going to hurt anyone, but acquiesced to the older woman's command.

The jet ramp lowered and the two women left the plane and headed towards the church.

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The wind howled and blew open the doors of the church forcefully, startling the pigeons and causing old wooden beams to creak.

Storm and Jean stalked in and surveyed the plastic covered statues and furniture and the old scaffolding.

"These are the coordinates." Storm said looking at Jean.

The two looked upwards startled by a strange whooshing noise and then a threatening voice speaking in German.

"Git out!" A man's voice yelled out followed by more of that strange whooshing noise.

Storm and Jean's heads moved back and forth trying to follow the Germanic words as they seemed to echo from different locations around the interior of the church.

"He's a teleporter." Jean said looking at Storm in understanding. "Must be why the Professor had trouble locking onto him."

"We're not here to hurt you," Storm called out hoping to pacify the mutant. "We just wanna talk."

"Git out!" The mutant yelled.

"Are you bored yet?" Jean asked looking at Storm.

"Oh yeah. Sure you don't wanna come down?" Storm queried one more time.

When there was no reply she looked back at Jean who nodded her head. She then turned her head to look out the open church door and when she looked back inside her eyes were completely cloudy white.

Thunder rolled outside and the wind picked up strength. Raising her arms slightly Storm called in a bolt of lightning which struck the crossbeams where the mutant was perched.

He screamed as he fell towards the floor only to stop in mid-air as Jean's telekinetic abilities prevented him from moving.

"You have him?" Storm asked.

"He's not going anywhere. Are you?" She asked turning the blue-skinned mutant around so that he faced her.

"Please don't kill me. I didn't mean to harm anyone." The mutant pleaded.

"Now why would people have gotten that impression?" Storm asked rhetorically. "What's your name?"

"Wagner, Kurt Wagner." The mutant replied.

The two women exchanged glances. Luna was right, but how had she known?

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He lay on the altar as Jean started to clean the bullet wound on his arm and the two women listened to his version about the attack.

"There vas so much shooting. Such fear and then there vas only pain. I could see it all happening but I couldn't stop myself. It vas like a bad dream. Perhaps He is testing me." Kurt said turning his head to look at the statue of a crucified Christ.

"And before you were in the White House, what do you remember?" Storm asked while Jean continued cleaning his bullet wound.

"Nothing. I vas here." Kurt replied, his eyes begging for them to believe him.

"Jean?" Storm asked looking at the red-head.

"I'd rather get him back to the Professor." She replied, unconfident in her telepathic abilities especially since they had started to flare up unpredictably.

"The professor?" Kurt queried, a little frightened. Jean just smiled reassuringly at him.

Storm ran her finger over the raised lines on Kurt's chest. "Did you do these yourself?"

"Yes." He rolled onto his side to reveal more of the raised lines.

"And what about this?" Jean asked touching the circular scar at the base of Kurt's neck.

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Once Jean, Storm and Luna left the mansion Harry found Gambit in the kitchen. "Remy, I'm going to visit Bill and Fleur so I'll probably be back late, if not tomorrow morning. Teddy is with Dr. McCoy right now, but will you get him ready for bed and stay with him if I'm not back?" Harry questioned.

Remy abandoned his coffee to tug Harry into his arms before kissing him hard. "Don' worry ma 'Arry ah will watch de _petite _fo' ya 'til ya come back, but ah expect a reward." The Cajun said leering down at him.

Harry grinned at that and made sure that every inch of his body was pressed tightly against Remy's. "Don't worry I'll make it up to you later." Harry replied running his hands down Gambit's chest and teasing the man by rubbing the skin of his lower abdomen just above the waistband of his jeans.

Remy groaned and kissed Harry again before gently pulling away.

"Thanks Remy." Harry said and headed outside. When he was sure no one else was around he Apparated to the New York branch of Gringotts.

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"How may we help you Mr. Potter?" The goblin asked, a sneer hovering around the edge of his mouth.

"Good tidings to you Honored One. I would like to speak to Bill Weasley please and if he's available the representative to the Council of the American Magical Beings." Harry replied not fazed in the least by the goblin's unfriendly demeanor.

"You will find Mr. Weasley in the consultation room which Ironclaw will show you to and after you are done the representative will meet you there. May your vault always be full." The goblin said curtly.

"Thank you." Harry said courteously and followed the second goblin to the consultation room.

Harry sat down in the chair and waited for Bill to come in. Occasionally he wondered if it was worth it. Leaving Sydney, that is, and coming to the United States. He didn't want to get involved in another conflict again, especially since he had to consider Teddy's welfare above all else. But, then there was also Gambit to consider. He didn't know why, but he was falling hard and fast for the Cajun mutant and couldn't bear the thought of something happening to him and he hadn't even bothered to try and protect Gambit.

And truth be told, he was tired of running and hiding. He wasn't quite in love with Remy, but Harry also knew it was only a matter of time before the Cajun owned him heart and soul. So that night he would tell the Cajun everything and then he would do whatever he had to keep his family safe.

"Merlin to Harry." Bill called out, waving his hand in front of Harry's face.

Harry jumped, startled from his thoughts by the sound of Bill's voice. He offered a sheepish smile to the red-head before getting up to embrace him. Harry laid his head against Bill's chest and sighed. It had been awhile since they had stood like this. In fact, the last time was after _that _night, when he had Apparated to Egypt, covered in blood and shaking from…..

Harry stepped back from the horror of that memory and concentrated on the feeling of safety that Bill radiated. Bill was his big brother and would keep him safe. So for that matter would Remy…..

"What's the matter, Harry?" Bill asked, knowing that Harry was lost in the memories of _that_ night again and that he needed to distract Harry from that difficult time.

Harry pulled away and then proceeded to tell Bill about what was going on in the mansion.

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"It was close, wasn't it?" William Stryker asked the President rhetorically as he bent over the desk and studied the hole left from the mutant assassin's knife. "Closer than anyone's admitted."

"What do you need William?" The president asked.

"Just your authorization…..for a special operation." He replied.

The President held up a decanter of brandy.

"Uh, no, thank you, Mr. President."

"And somehow I thought you were here to talk about school reform." The president said pouring a glass.

"Funny you should say that Mr. President." Stryker said picking up a folder.

"Senator." The president said as the door opened to admit Senator Edward Kelly.

"Mr. President. Thank you for having me." The senator said shaking the president's hand.

"Senator Kelly this is Colonel William Stryker." The President introduced the two men.

"How do you do?" Senator Kelly greeted Stryker.

"His department has been dealing with the mutant phenomenon since before my time." The president explained.

"As I recall, you were a staunch supporter of the Registration Act, Senator," Stryker said, "But, it seems your ideas on the mutant problem have changed recently."

"For the best, I hope." Kelly responded. "So what are you proposing, Mr. Stryker?" the Senator asked after a moment of silence.

"Uh may I Mr. President?" Stryker asked holding up the folder he carried.

The President gestured for him to continue.  
"We've managed to gather evidence of a mutant training facility in the Salem region of upstate New York." Stryker said setting down photographs of Charles Xavier's school on the table in front of the two men.

"Where did you get this information?" The president asked looking at one of the pictures.

"Through interrogation of one of the mutant terrorists from the Liberty Island incident." Stryker replied.

"Eric? Eric Lensherr?" The senator questioned surprised. "You have access to him?"

"Magneto? Yes. We developed the technology that built his plastic prison."

"This facility is a school." The Senator said holding up one of the photos.

"Sure it is." Stryker said throwing down another surveillance photo on the table.

The President picked it up. "What the hell is that?"

"A jet."

"What kind of jet?"

"We don't know, but it comes up out of the basketball court."

The president set down the photo and his glass. Rubbing his eyes he wandered over to his desk.

"If we'd been allowed to our jobs before this incident…." Stryker trailed off.

"All right. Listen." The president interrupted. "William, you enter, you detain, you question, but the last thing we need to see is the body of a mutant kid on the 6:00 news." The president said.

William looked down at Senator Kelly and gave him a predatory smile.

The Senator smiled back.

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Stryker and his assistant were walking down the hall from the President's office when Senator Kelly called out to him.

"Mr. Stryker."

"Senator Kelly." The colonel said turning around, "This is Yuriko my personal assistant."

They shook hands.

"Quite a handshake." The senator said to Yuriko.

"What can I do for you?" Stryker said as he continued walking.

"Uh, Eric Lensherr's prison. I'd like to arrange a visit if possible." He said rubbing his hands.

"It isn't a petting zoo, Senator. In this conflict, he is the enemy. You are just a spectator. So why don't you sit this one out, all right?" Stryker said patronizingly, patting the senator on the arm.

"Conflict? Mr. Stryker, do you really want to turn this into some kind of war?" Senator Kelly questioned stopping in the hallway.

Stryker froze and retreated until he was standing inches away from Senator Kelly.

"I was piloting black-ops missions in the jungles of North Vietnam while you were sucking on your mama's tit at Woodstock, Kelly. Don't lecture me about war. This already is a war." The senator spat out threateningly as he turned and stalked away.

The senator stared after him, yellow eyes glinting for a moment before turning back to normal.

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The three of them were gathered in a dimly lit room somewhere in England.

"Are you sure?" One of them asked.

"It took me awhile, but I'm positive. He left Australia a couple of months ago and is now staying in New York in the United States. We're going to have to be careful though because they have received asylum and citizenship from the American Ministry of Magic." Another answered.

"That could pose a problem. America is a wild and practically uncivilized place unlike Great Britain. They see everyone as having equal rights including Dark Creatures." The third spat. "We could start an international incident."

"Then we had better do this quietly without alerting anyone." The first shot back.

"That little brat and the other three traitors stole everything from us. We will pay them back and make _him_ see the error of his ways." The first said hazel glinting with the first signs of madness.

The other two nodded their heads convinced of the truth and validity of their plan.

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Somewhere else in England a woman threw back her head and cackled madly. The two men sprawled on the couches just watched her indulgently.

"We're not done playing yet itsy bitsy Potter. We have unfinished business to settle." She said to no one in particular.

The two men raised their wineglasses to the woman, silently toasting her and their plan for revenge. They would finish what they had started a year ago and they would be able to avenge everything they had believed in.

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A/N: Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully I'll be able to have the next chapter up relatively soon, but we'll see. Let me know what you think. ~Dark Disaster


	7. Someone's Going to Die

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all who read and reviewed it really makes me happy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Anything that remotely resembles X-Men 2 belongs to 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics.

Someone's Going to Die

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_Last time: _

_The three of them were gathered in a dimly lit room somewhere in England._

"_Are you sure?" One of them asked._

"_It took me awhile, but I'm positive. He left Australia a couple of months ago and is now staying in New York in the United States. We're going to have to be careful though because they have received asylum and citizenship from the American Ministry of Magic." Another answered._

"_That could pose a problem. America is a wild and practically uncivilized place unlike Great Britain. They see everyone as having equal rights including Dark Creatures." The third spat. "We could start an international incident." _

"_Then we had better do this quietly without alerting anyone." The first shot back._

"_That little brat and the other three traitors stole everything from us. We will pay them back and make him see the error of his ways." The first said hazel eyes glinting with the first signs of madness._

_The other two nodded their heads convinced of the truth and validity of their plan._

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_Somewhere else in England a woman threw back her head and cackled madly. The two men sprawled on the couches just watched her indulgently._

"_We're not done playing yet itsy bitsy Potter. We have unfinished business to settle." She said to no one in particular._

_The two men raised their wineglasses to the woman, silently toasting her and their plan for revenge. They would finish what they had started a year ago and they would be able to avenge everything they had believed in._

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"I heard about the attack on the President." Bill said as he and Harry sat in Gringott's consultation room. "I was worried about you all at the mansion, but I didn't know anything about this mutant registration act."

"It sounds a lot like the Dark Creature Act that passed in Britain, Bill. I don't like the sound of it and I think this could be the start of another war." Harry said. "The Professor wants humans and mutants to live in peace, but there is another mutant called Magneto who wants mutants to rule over humans." He continued.

"Merlin, Harry. That sounds almost exactly like Voldemort and his pureblood supremacy campaign." Bill said, sounding worried.

"That's what I'm saying Bill. Something needs to be done before a war actually breaks out. Merlin forbid, but if that ever happens, at the very least Luna and I will be involved. That's why I want to know if the American Magical Government might be willing to step in and either offer sanctuary to mutants or if they might be willing to negotiate with the muggle government." Harry stated.

Bill leaned back in his chair. "I don't know Harry. In Great Britain I don't think we ever heard about mutants. And you know if the wizarding population isn't tolerant of Dark Creatures I highly doubt they would tolerate mutants either. Asia is a closed continent, but I know they don't think that highly of the U.K. so maybe their magical government might be willing to accept mutants. Africa's magical government consists of various tribal groups so it is difficult to determine what they would think. South America is almost the same. Australia and North America on the other hand are a lot more liberal in their thinking. They have nothing against Dark Creatures, or we wouldn't be here, and I think they would be okay with offering mutants sanctuary, Harry, but I don't know if that will be enough." Bill explained thoughtfully.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked although he could think of a few reasons.

"Well it seems that some mutants are for coexistence and others are against it so I don't know if they would even be open to the idea of completely separating themselves from muggles. Also mutants more than likely don't even know about the wizarding world and they might just view us as another enemy. Finally, there is the fact that mutants really don't have a central government to negotiate with. We would have to deal with the majority of mutants on an individual basis which would be very difficult." Bill said.

Harry paused. He really hadn't considered that possibility. Would Remy be wary of him being a wizard? What would happen when he found out?

"I agree with Mr. Weasley." A deep gravelly voice said.

Bill and Harry turned towards the door and looked at the goblin and the elderly wizard that walked through.

"Greetings Mr. Weasley, Lord Potter. I'm Alex Santoya , Chief Advisor to the American Minister of Magic and this is Lord Caldagon, the Goblin Representative to the Council of Magical Beings." The wizard said as he introduced everyone.

The goblin nodded to the two Brits as they returned the ceremonial bows.

"Perhaps we should discuss this a little more." The goblin said. "We might be able to come up with some ideas to help."

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Logan stared at the Professor in irritation. "I am not playing babysitter tonight Chuck."

The Professor just smiled at him. "I know you don't like having to stay at home Logan, but we need someone to watch over the children while Scott and I go visit an old friend."

"Magneto?" Logan questioned, already resigned to being the glorified babysitter, there were times when he couldn't resist the Professor.

"Yes. It is imperative that we get information from him. Perhaps he may even have some idea about the assassination attempt." Charles said as he left Cerebro and headed upstairs.

Logan put his cigar back in his mouth. Maybe he would be able to get some information out of the Brit while he was stuck here.

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"Hey." Bobby greeted as Logan walked into the kitchen later that night, irritated that Potter had gone to visit family, leaving Teddy in the care of the Cajun.

"Doesn't anybody sleep around here?" Logan questioned in response.  
"Apparently not." Bobby replied commenting on the fact that Logan was awake as well.

"Got any beer?" Logan asked rooting around in the fridge. It had been awhile since he had stayed at the school.

"This is a school." Bobby replied reminding Logan of that fact.

"So that's a no?" Logan questioned just to be sure.

"That's a no." Bobby replied amused at the other man's expense.

Logan huffed. "Got anything other than chocolate milk?"

"There should be some soda in that small cupboard." Bobby said pointing before taking a bite of ice cream.

Logan grabbed a Dr. Pepper, popped off the cap, looked at the bottle and then at Bobby before handing him the bottle.

Bobby smirked and breathed into the bottleneck, coating it with ice and cooling off the drink for Logan.

"Thanks." Logan said as Bobby handed back the bottle to him.

"No problem." Bobby replied.

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The guard wheeled the Professor into the security room with Scott close behind.

The first guard left and Laurio, Magneto's guard stopped Scott from wheeling the Professor through the metal detector.

"I'll take him from here."

Scott stared at the security guard not sure whether he was going to protest.

"It's alright, Scott." The Professor said putting an end to Cyclops' indecision.

"Nice shades." The guard said pushing the Professor to the metal scanner.

"Thanks." Scott said gruffly not impressed with the man.

After the scanner declared him free of metal, the guard helped the Professor through the plastic tunnel and into the plastic room that served as Magneto's prison.

Eric looked up as the two entered the room. "Charles Xavier. Have you come to rescue me?" he asked sarcastically.

"Sorry Eric. Not today." The Professor replied.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" Eric questioned.

Charles waited until the guard left. "The assassination attempt on the president. What do you know about it?"

Eric leaned his head on his fist. "Nothing. Only what I read in the papers. You really shouldn't have to ask, Charles." Eric said turning around.

The professor looked concerned over Eric's haggard appearance. "What's happened to you?"

"I've had frequent visits from William Stryker. You remember him, don't you?"

"William Stryker." The Professor repeated, no sign of recognition.

"His son, Jason, was once a student of yours, wasn't he?" Eric prompted.

Xavier nodded, finally placing the name. "Yes. Years ago. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to help him, at least not in the way his father wanted."

Eric stood up and walked across the room. "And now you think that taking in the Wolverine will make up for your failure with Stryker's son."

The Professor leaned back in his wheelchair and studied Eric without saying a word.

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"So you want me to kidnap a baby so you can get your revenge, is that right?"

"Yes it shouldn't be too hard for you. Take him to your base with the rest of the mutant brats that you want to experiment on. I want him alive and if you do that I will help ensure that you exterminate these mutants that you hate so much."

"And how do you plan on doing that?"

"Similar to the way I helped you develop your mind control serum. You just worry about getting the kid and I'll fulfill my part of the bargain. Agreed?" She asked.

He hesitated. He wasn't sure if she was better or worse than the mutants he wanted to get rid of. "Agreed." After all he could exterminate the mutants and then there would be no need for her and her friends.

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"So how long you been here?" Logan asked Bobby.

"Couple of years."

"And your parents just sent you off to mutant school?" Logan asked. While he had been at the institute for a while now, he didn't stay for long stretches of time. When he was at the school he usually didn't interact with the students, beyond knowing their names, abilities and whether they could pass his phys ed class. Rogue was the exception since they met up while he was travelling on one of his breaks from the school.

"Actually my parents think this is a prep school." Bobby replied.

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Oh I see. I suppose lots of prep schools have their own dorms, campuses…."

"Jets." Bobby interrupted.

Logan smirked before changing the subject. "So you and Rogue, huh?"

"Yeah. It's not what you think, I'd like it to be, but it's just…." Bobby trailed off when he realized who he was talking to.

Logan cocked an eyebrow and waited for Bobby to finish.

"It's just that it's not easy when you wanna be close to someone, but you can't."

Logan shrugged.

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"Or are you afraid of losing one of your precious X-Men?" Eric asked Xavier.

Charles ignored the taunt and studied Eric.

"Eric, what have you done?" He questioned a little scared.

"I'm sorry, Charles. I couldn't help it."

"What have you told Stryker?" Charles demanded.

Eric sighed, ashamed. "Everything."

Xavier looked around, panicked, when a gas started to fill the room.

"The war has begun." Eric said resigned as he started to slide down the wall he had been leaning against.

"Scott!" The professor yelled.

"You should've killed me when you had the chance!" Eric yelled.

Scott turned around when the door slid open and Yuriko entered, aiming a plastic gun at him. She shot him with the tranquilizers, but he used an optic blast to throw her against the wall. He quickly took out the other security guards, but before he could blast open the door separating him and the Professor, Yuriko jumped him and bashed his head into the wall, the kick and the tranquilizers knocking him unconscious.

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"The Council has been monitoring the mutant debate that has been going on for quite some time, Lord Potter." Lord Caldagon said. "Unfortunately we are not entirely sure how to proceed. For one thing the Council just passed an edict this morning, after a lot of debate, declaring mutants as sentient magical beings and therefore it would not break the Statue of Secrecy to tell them about the Magical World."

"How did that happen?" Bill interrupted, curious as to why mutants would be declared magical beings.

"We've had studies conducted on the mutant core which gives mutants their 'powers'. Their permission was given and an Obliviate ensured that they wouldn't remember meeting wizards." Lord Caldagon said. "The Medi-Wizards and several researchers came to the conclusion that muggle-borns and mutants are, well, cousins would be the best term. The general public is not aware of how muggles of no wizarding descent gain their magical abilities and to be honest we aren't entirely sure either. But through comparison of mutant cores and the magical cores of muggle borns we have determined that there are a lot of similarities. This, along with several other observations has led us to conclude that mutant abilities are in fact an offshoot of magical abilities and under other circumstances, they might have been wizards or witches." Lord Caldagon finished.

"So what you are saying is that mutants are witches and wizards who somehow didn't fully develop a magical core?" Harry asked.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. We are still unsure of how magic even evolves in non-pureblood families so there is still a lot that remains unknown. However, we are sure that in mutants, the magical core was somehow concentrated on one or two particular abilities instead of having a large enough core to facilitate spell-casting." The goblin answered.

"That's incredible." Bill breathed out.

"So what about mutant-wizard hybrids?" Harry asked wondering how his, Luna's and Hank's magical cores developed.

"We are not sure. It could have something to do with the size of a person's magical core as well as family bloodlines, but I could not say for sure as there have been few reported cases." The old goblin said interlocking his long fingers and regarding the two British wizards.

"Getting back to the original topic." Mr. Santoya said. "As I'm sure you have discovered, there are several factions within the mutant community that have different attitudes towards integration with muggles. Additionally we are not even sure how mutants will react to the revelation about magic. Although mutants and muggle-borns might share a similar magical core, the hard truth is that mutants were raised with muggle beliefs and it will be difficult to get them to accept the existence of magic." The Chief Advisor continued.

"So you're going to do nothing?" Bill asked not entirely sure what the Representative and Chief Advisor were driving at.

"Not exactly. We were hoping you would come by Lord Potter as we have a proposition for you. We would like you and your sister along with Healer McCoy to be well, ambassadors of a sort to mutants. It seems like Professor Xavier and the mutants who ascribe to his belief system would be perfect candidates to introduce to the Magical World. Depending on their reactions we would be able to determine a better course of action." The Chief Advisor continued.

"So basically you want us to reveal the fact that we are wizards to the mutants at Xavier's School and see what his reaction is?" Harry questioned just to make sure he understood.

"Yes, if you feel that is an acceptable course of action, Lord Potter. It might be that we will not reveal our world to all mutants, but rather create a division of the Ministry similar to the Accidental Magic Department dedicated to helping mutants who accidentally display their powers to muggles." The goblin Representative said.

Bill nodded his head as he considered their words. "Actually that's a good idea Harry. Xavier seems to be a very tolerant man and this would be a good way to test the waters, so to speak."

Harry sighed. He really hadn't been sure what to expect when he first arrived and really this was a much better course of action than anything that British wizards would have suggested. "All right, I see your point. I'll discuss this with my sister and Healer McCoy and then speak with Xavier and the others sometime this week and report back to you, if that is acceptable." Harry replied.

"Excellent Lord Potter. We must be on our way, but I wish you all the best." Mr. Santoya said.

All four of them stood up and exchanged the ritual bows before the Chief Advisor and the Representative left the room.

"Well, are you going to go through with this?" Bill questioned Harry.

Harry nodded. "I think I have to Bill. I really care for Gambit and I don't want to keep my past a secret from him."

Bill sighed. He was happy Harry had finally found someone to care for him, but he didn't want his little brother to get hurt again. So he reached out and gave Harry a hug. "Come on little brother, let's go visit Fleur and she what she'll make us for dinner."

The blinding smile Harry gave him, told Bill that he had done the right thing.

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He walked out into the hallway to investigate the sounds of people entering the building this late at night.

He averted his eyes from the bright beams of the flashlight and watched the man approach him.

"Hi."

Quickly the man whipped out a tranquilizer gun and shot him. He fell to the floor with a thud.

The man signaled to his partner who waved to the other special ops personnel signaling that all was clear.

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Logan went to take a swig of his soda when he heard the faint sound of heavy footsteps in the hall. He got up from his seat and listened.

"What is it?" Bobby asked confused.

"Shh, shh."

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They quickly climbed stairs and opened doors, tranquilizing the sleeping mutant children as fast as they could.

Kitty woke up when the men entered her room and she sank through the bed and floor trying to escape the intruders. She darted through walls and people in an effort to escape even as helicopters approached the building bringing more soldiers.

Bobby got up from his chair in the kitchen and approached the window startled by the out of the ordinary sound of helicopters approaching.

He turned around, startled by the sound of Wolverine jumping a soldier that had walked into the kitchen.

"You picked the wrong house, bub." Logan snarled to the soldier.

Upstairs, soldiers burst into another room startling a girl who started shrieking. Her voice, enhanced by her mutant power, reverberated through the house driving soldiers and mutants alike to the floor, their hearing damaged by the unnaturally loud sound.

Finally one of the soldiers in the room with the girl took out a hand dart gun and shot her in the throat, stopping the loud screaming.

In the kitchen, the soldier went for Logan's throat a knife in his hand. Logan popped his claws from his knuckles and speared the man against the fridge.

Bobby's head popped up from behind the counter and studied the feral mutant.

"Are you alright?" Logan questioned.

Bobby nodded a little frightened.

They left the kitchen and entered the hallway where Logan told Bobby to stay put upon seeing more soldiers. Logan took down the soldiers one by one, but Bobby heard the children screaming and running upstairs.

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Upstairs the soldiers tried to pick up one of the tranquilized girls only to turn around startled when Piotr stepped into the room metal covering his body and protecting him from the soldier's darts. He grabbed the two of them by their throats and threw them through the wall.

Bobby took the elevator upstairs, worried about Rogue and the others while Logan ran down the hallway, unfazed by the soldier's tranquilizers, and took several of them down, not in the mood to spare lives.

Outside more soldiers landed and surrounded the house, running inside ready to capture as many mutants as possible.

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Gambit was not happy. One of the student's shrieking had woken him up from a wonderfully naughty dream involving him and his sexy green eyed mutant, and the screaming had also woken Teddy up who started contributing his own shrieks.

He grunted in pain as he covered Teddy's ears to protect them even as it felt like his own ear drums were going to burst.

Finally, however, the shrieks stopped suddenly and Remy knew there was something wrong in the mansion. He quickly dressed, took his staff in one hand and gently cradled Teddy to his chest in the other arm. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew without a doubt that Teddy was safer with him than by himself.

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"John! Where's Rogue?" Bobby called out, panicked when he arrived upstairs.

"I don't know." John replied.

"I gotta find her." Bobby said worried about his girlfriend.

"Hey!" John yelled, before sighing and running after his friend.

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The students were scared and raced down the hallway to the secret entrance hoping to get through before the soldiers caught up to them.

"Come on!" They cried out pounding on the wall.

"Here take her." Colossus said, handing off the unconscious girl he carried to one of the others. Grunting, he slammed his arm against the panel and it slid open revealing a tunnel.

"Go on. Get in. Let's go. Let's go." He urged the others.

Wolverine strode down the hall, an unconscious mutant boy in his arms. "Hey. Take him. He's stunned." Wolverine said to Colossus handing over the boy.

"I can help you." Colossus said.

"Help them." Logan gestured to the tunnel and the students before racing back the way he came. Colossus nodded and ducked inside the tunnel, which closed behind him.

Pausing, Logan sunk down to the floor only to stab a soldier in the foot with his claws. He was going to do everything he could to get rid of the soldiers. And where the hell was the damn Cajun?

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Remy was having a blast. Lately things had been way too quiet and while he didn't mind it there was nothing more enjoyable, to his mind at least, than taking down the enemy. He knew there were a lot of soldiers in the house itself, but he also knew that Logan was taking care of them and that the majority of the students had escaped.

Charging another playing card he threw it out the window, knocking down, if not killing, the soldiers who were scaling the wall.

Teddy let out a whimper at the loud noise and buried his face deeper into Remy's chest.

Gambit paused to reassure the little boy before he tossed several cards at the helicopter closest to him. "Serves ya right fo' attackin' a school." Remy addressed the downed helicopter.

Satisfied that there were no more threats in the immediate vicinity, Gambit cradled Teddy closer and headed downstairs to help Logan.

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"Rogue!"

"Bobby! This way!" Rogue screamed as she ran into Bobby and John.

They started to head towards the secret exit only to stop in their tracks as the window exploded and soldiers burst into the hall. They quickly retreated back the way they had come.

The soldiers that had entered through the window were prepared to tranquilize as many mutant students as possible, but before they could take a dozen steps into the hallway they were knocked out by a surge of kinetic energy.

Gambit strolled past the fallen soldiers with a smirk on his face. There was no way these soldiers were going to harm any of the students on his watch.

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Another helicopter landed on the lawn of the mansion and two dozen soldiers poured out ready to follow orders. Stryker strolled out of the bay and surveyed the area before heading towards the house.

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Bobby, Rogue and John raced downstairs trying to get to one of the secret entrances, but the three stopped in their tracks as the front doors burst open as soldiers poured in.

"Ahhhh!" Logan yelled as he jumped off the banister and pinned two soldiers to the ground with his claws. Pushing himself off of the floor he slashed the other two soldiers then looked at the three teens. "Let's go."

They raced upstairs and Bobby slammed on a wood panel, which revealed the tunnel exit. The three teens raced in, but Rogue paused calling out for Logan. He merely slammed the door shut and turned to face the soldiers that had entered.

"You wanna shoot me? Shoot me!" Logan challenged the men.

"Don't shoot him!" A voice commanded. "Not yet. Wolverine?" The man questioned as he came into view. "Well, I must admit, this is certainly the last place I'd expect to find you."

"Stryker." Logan growled out, recognizing the man who had caused him and the Cajun so many problems.

And as if on cue, said Cajun strolled around the corner, Teddy settled on his hip with his favored staff in the other hand.

"Well, well, if it isn't my two favorite experiments. This is most definitely the last place I would have expected to find the two of you hanging around." Stryker said taunting the men. "And look you've brought me the child that I came to retrieve." He said gesturing towards Teddy.

Gambit growled, shifting into a fighting stance even as Logan moved in front of the Cajun silently telling the soldiers they were going to have to go through him first.

"I want the boy alive and unharmed!" Stryker commanded the soldiers around him.

They charged the two mutants while simultaneously shooting tranquilizers at them hoping to take them down without a fight.

No such luck.

Logan just shrugged off the effects of the drug faster than thought and slashed through the first two soldiers that rushed him.

Gambit threw several kinetically charged cards at the next wave of soldiers and everyone was surprised when a blue-furred man dropped from the ceiling and knocked out the three soldiers he landed on.

"I thought I would drop in and give you a hand, or two." Beast said injecting a dash of humor into the fight.

"Glad ya could make it." Remy replied taking down the next few soldiers.

Logan merely grunted as he slashed a couple more idiots that got within range.

"What do they want?" Beast asked, knocking a soldier's head into the wall.

"Dey come fo' Teddy." Gambit replied slamming his elbow into a soldier's side.

"We can't let that happen!" Beast cried out in alarm, thinking of the rage that would consume Harry if that happened.

"Crucio!" A voice yelled out.

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Fleur hugged Harry tightly as they stood in the entranceway of their house. "Are you sure you 'ave ta leave, 'Arry? It 'as so nice ta 'ave 'oo en de 'ouse again." Fleur said.

"I need to get going Fleur. I don't like leaving Teddy alone and besides I don't want to worry Remy." Harry replied, not really wanting to leave his family, but at the same time anxious to see his boyfriend and son.

"Alright Harry. Then we'll see you tomorrow afternoon when Fleur and I come by to help explain wizards to Xavier." Bill said hugging Harry.

"Alright. See you then." Harry said Apparating outside the mansion gates so as not to cause questions before he was ready to explain.

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The three mutants dropped to the floor writhing and screaming in agony from the foreign sensation of extreme pain caused by an unseen assailant.

"Really only Potter would hang around animals. It must make the werewolf brat feel at home." A condescending voice said as he approached Gambit and delivered a hard kick to his side.

Even while under the effects of the Cruciatus curse, Remy had fallen in such a way that Teddy wasn't crushed and was somewhat hidden by his trench coat.

However, the assailant kicked Remy calculatedly so that he would roll just enough to expose Teddy long enough to grab him.

"Hello, Teddy. Remember Uncle Ron?"

Teddy scrunched up his face as he stared at the man holding him. This wasn't his daddy or 'emy. He had red hair like Unca' Bill but this wasn't him. So he started crying. "Dadda! Dadda!"

"Shut up, you worthless mongrel." Ron Weasley snarled.

Of course this only made Teddy cry harder.

"Sectumsempra!" Ron cried out, raising his wand.

While he had been distracted with Teddy, the three mutants had recovered enough to charge the distracted wizard. Mutants might recover faster than normal humans, but Gambit and Logan hadn't been exposed to Dark Magic before and it had been years since Beast had encountered Dark Magic. So the lingering effects of the Cruciatus slowed them down just enough for Ron's next curse to hit them.

Ron smirked as he watched the mutants collapse in agony, wide bloody gashes appearing on their bodies.

Stryker stepped up next to the red-haired wizard and surveyed the fallen mutants. "Is the kid that important?"

Ron glanced at the muggle colonel. "He's the key to getting what we want. So get the machine that you need and we will meet you back at your base to fulfill our part of the bargain."

Stryker nodded and gestured to the higher rank soldiers that had come with him and headed down to the basement. He was going to get the machine called Cerebro.

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Rogue, Bobby and John raced down the hidden tunnels.

"Wait! Wait! You guys, we gotta do something. They're going to kill him." Rogue cried out referring to Logan.

"He can handle himself." John said incredulous that she would want to go back to a house full of soldiers.

"Bobby! Please." Rogue cried.

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Harry Apparated outside the mansion, more than ready to see his son and boyfriend, but he stopped in his tracks at the sight of helicopters and flood lights outside the mansion. Something was very wrong.

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"I really don't see a need for you all to stay alive anymore." Ron addressed the bleeding mutants. "Avada Ke-"

"Expelliarmus!" Harry shouted.

Ron's wand flew out of his hand and he turned around his second wand in his hand. "Well, well if it isn't the great Harry Potter. Come to rescue your freaky friends and your little werewolf brat?" He said sarcastically.

"I'm going to kill you Weasley!" Harry snarled emerald eyes glowing with his magic.

"I doubt you can. And it doesn't matter anyways as Stryker is going to get rid of your freaky mutant friends! Have fun Potter!" Ron cried out as his Portkey activated.

"Teddy!" Harry cried, lunging forward his magic lashing out, but Ron vanished before Harry's magic could do any damage.

Harry heard the click of guns and his magic lashed out throwing the soldiers hard against the wall.

Harry turned ready to fight the threat to the mansion when a wall of ice formed between him and the rapidly approaching soldiers. He turned around surprised to see Bobby with his hand against the wall creating the ice wall, Rogue and John hanging out of the secret entrance.

"Harry, come on. Let's go." Rogue cried out.

Harry didn't move.

"Harry." Bobby insisted.

"Go! I'll be fine." Harry responded angrily, more than willing to find this Stryker and Imperio the bastard to tell him where Weasley was.

"But we won't." Rogue said gesturing to the three downed mutants.

The highest ranking of the soldiers grabbed a small bomb from one of the others and stabbed it into the ice wall. "Tranquilize the mutants and bring them back to base."

"Go. Keep going." Harry said levitating Gambit, Beast and Logan and following the three teens through the tunnel.

The tunnel entrance slid shut just as the bomb exploded, shattering the wall and sending slivers of ice in every direction.

"They're gone." One soldier said after they scanned the hall and found no mutants in sight.

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The tunnel opened into the garage and the three teens climbed out, racing for the car. Harry followed, the three unconscious mutants floating behind him.

"Get in. Get in." Rogue cried out as they jumped into the car.

John snagged Cyclops' keys from where they hung on the wall. "I'm driving."

Bobby grabbed shotgun while Rogue, Harry and the other three crammed into the backseat. "We're not going to be able to fit comfortably." Rogue said as John started the car.

As John pealed out of the garage Rogue was stunned when the backseat suddenly seemed to expand and there was room to lay out Logan, Remy and Hank comfortably.

"How did you do that?" Rogue questioned wide-eyed.

"Magic." Harry replied tersely, focused on healing the damage done by two dark curses.

The three teens exchanged glances. Was he serious?

Bobby shrugged it off and looked at John. "So where are we planning on going?"

"Storm, Jean and Luna are in Boston going after the mutant that attacked the President so we should head there." Harry chimed in from the back where he was pouring a purple (?) liquid down Beast's throat.

"My parents live in Boston." Bobby said hesitantly.

"Good." Harry said.

There was a strained silence in the car for a few minutes until John decided to break it. "I don't like uncomfortable silences." He fiddled with the stereo trying to turn some music on. The machine whirred and the panel slid down while some kind of device of slid forward.

"I don't think that's the CD player, John." Bobby said taking the device out.

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[TV] _Look, I just think all this anti-mutant protesting underscores the genuine growing concern among most Americans. I think mutant registration—_

_But why stop there? Maybe it would be easier to round up mutants by the truckload. Or maybe, you would like an all-out war Mr. Shaw?_

_Oh please. _

"Turn that shit off Lou." Magneto's security guard shouted to the bartender, not wanting to listen to the mutant debate while he was off work and enjoying a beer.

"Got a lot on your mind? Mr….Laurio?" The blonde woman at the bar asked. "I'm Grace." She grabbed two beers from the counter and sauntered over to Laurio's table. He just stared at her in awe.

"You want another beer? Of course you do." She answered for him, pushing a beer glass across the table, smirking at the thought of the two pills sitting innocently at the bottom of his glass.

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The door to the bar's bathroom slammed shut as Grace and Laurio stumbled inside, her mouth attached to his.

"You're really aggressive." Laurio said appreciatively.

"Yes, I am." She responded huskily.

They fumbled and stumbled, but entered the bathroom stall, shutting the door behind them.

"Oh, I—I've never hooked up with a girl like you before." Laurio said.

Grace chuckled as she pulled off her jacket. "I know." She said shoving him onto the toilet.

"It's, uh, kinda dirty in here, don't you think?" Laurio asked timidly as Grace put her hands on his belt.

"That's the idea. Velcro." Grace said easily ripping off Laurio's belt. "Nice."

Laurio smiled and saluted her with his beer glass. "Bottom's up." He said and drained the remains of his drink.

"I certainly hope so." Grace said watching as he slumped over, knocked out by the drugs.

She stood up and flipped Laurio over, pulling down his pants and exposing his back.

As she pulled a syringe from her bag, the fabric of her dress fused together and revealed the blue skin and yellow eyes of Mystique.

"Bottom's up." She said and injected the passed out Laurio with the syringe.

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Xavier came to with a start, some type of metal helmet strapped to his head. "William." He said noticing Stryker leaning against the wall in front of him.

"Please, Xavier, don't get up." Stryker said.

Xavier shuddered in pain as he tried to use his telepathy to find out why he was here.

"I call it the neural inhibitor. It keeps you outta here." Stryker explained tapping his forehead. "I developed it with the help of a lovely young lady who is acquainted with a new student of yours. A Mr. Harry Potter, I believe." He continued. "She was very sympathetic to my cause and all I had to do was capture Mr. Potter's child which was quite easy to do and I also caught some test subjects of my own."

Xavier leaned back as if slapped. "Not the children."

"Ah yes while the majority of the managed to escape somehow, I did get several of them in order to make sure my method of mutant extermination works." Stryker explained to a white-faced Xavier. "And you are the key to that extermination." He finished, letting Xavier think on that.

"What have you done with Scott?" Xavier questioned, hoping that Cyclops managed to get away and could rescue the children.

"Don't worry. I'm just giving him a little reeducation. Of course, you know all about that, don't you?"

"William, you wanted me to cure your son. But mutation is not a disease." Xavier explained patiently trying to reason with his captor.

"You're lying! You were more frightened of him than I was. You know, just one year after Jason returned from your school, my wife-. You see he resented us. He blamed us for his condition. So he would toy with our minds projecting visions and scenarios into our brains. Well, my wife, in the end she took a power drill to her left temple in an attempt to bore the images out. My boy, the great illusionist." Stryker said in a sort of morbid pride.

A strange cracking noise behind him caused Stryker to turn around and notice that his "assistant" Yuriko was looking around with wide and confused eyes.

As Stryker approached her Xavier said, "You know for someone who hates mutants you certainly keep some strange company."

Stryker pushed Yuriko's head down, exposing the back of her neck and using a syringe released several acidic drops onto the scar at the base of her neck. "Oh, they serve their purpose as long as they can be controlled." Stryker said. Yuriko straightened back up, no longer confused, and left the room in response to Stryker's signal.

Xavier leaned back in his wheelchair having just realized something. "You arranged the attack on the president."

Stryker turned towards Xavier, a smirk on his face. "You didn't even have to read my mind. You know, I've been working with mutants as long as you have, Xavier, but the most frustrating thing I've learned is that nobody really knows how many exist or even how to find them-except you."

Xavier paled further as he realized where this conversation was headed.

"Unfortunately this little potion won't work on you, will it? You're much too powerful for that aren't you?" Stryker questioned rhetorically. "Instead we'll go right to the source." Stryker stepped back from Xavier. "Allow me to introduce mutant 143. The fluid secreted from his brain acts as a mind-controlling agent and with Miss Granger's help I was able to collect that fluid and in turn develop the serum I've used on mutants such as Magneto." Stryker bragged.

"Jason." Xavier breathed out, shocked. "Oh, my God, William. This is your son. What have you done to him?" Xavier asked, repulsed by the depth of Stryker's hatred towards mutants, including his own flesh and blood.

"No, Charles! My son is dead just like the rest of you." Stryker cried out and stalked out of the room.

A woman with curly brown hair entered the room and taking out a polished stick with a handle she pointed it at the unconscious mutant. "Enerverate!"

Jason slowly sat up and focused his blue and brown eyes on Xavier.

"Please, Ms. Granger. Reconsider this madness." Xavier pleaded with the young woman. However, she barely spared him a glance and instead pointed her wand at Jason a second time.

"Imperio!"

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A/N: There's the end of chapter 7. Hope you enjoyed it. This one was fairly easy to write, but the next few chapters might take a little longer. Please leave me a review and let me know what you think. ~Dark Disaster.


	8. Hello, I'm a Wizard

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to all who read and reviewed. Hope the length makes up for the wait! I fixed the mistake on the previous edition if anyone noticed.

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing.

Hello, I'm a wizard.

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Bobby unlocked the front door of his parent's house and the six mutants strolled into the household as though they belonged.

"Mom? Dad? Ronny?" Bobby questioned as they entered the hallway. "Is anyone home?" Silence was his only reply. Bobby sighed and looked back at Rogue. "I'll try and find you some clothes." Then he glanced over at John who was looking around and flicking his lighter. "Don't burn anything."

Bobby hesitated as he looked towards Harry who had already appropriated the living room furniture to lay down the three unconscious X-Men. Deciding that Harry had things under control he and Rogue headed upstairs and John went to use the restroom.

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Once he was satisfied that the three teens were sufficiently occupied Harry cast a Silencing spell on the living room, renewed the sleeping spell on Logan and Gambit and cast an Ennervate on Beast.

Harry moved out of the way as Beast jumped to his feet ready to attack. He took a step forward before pausing, realizing he was no longer in the mansion surrounded by soldiers. "Harry?" He said slightly confused. Then his eyes cleared and he remembered what had taken place only hours before. "Dear Merlin, they've taken Teddy Harry." Beast said his head hanging slightly in shame.

Harry swallowed the anger that welled up inside him. It was hardly Hank's fault. And when he got ahold of Weasley all hell was going to break loose.

"Hank it's okay. I know who took Teddy and we're going to get him back. However, there is a more serious problem at hand." Harry said and proceeded to explain to him about the offer made by Alex Santoya and the Goblin representative.

Hank's jaw dropped as he considered the proposition. It would certainly be nice not to have to hide both sides of his heritage and it would mean he could practice all of his skills openly without having to worry about what the others would say.

"So what do you think Hank? I've already planned on telling Xavier, but since I'm not sure of his whereabouts I thought I would start with Gambit and Wolverine. I don't want to lie to Remy and I'm aware that Logan doesn't trust us." Harry said looking at Hank beseechingly.

Hank took a deep breath and made his decision.

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"Hey. I found some of my mom's old clothes." Bobby said entering his room, now dressed properly. "I think they're from before I was born."

"Groovy." Rogue said as she took the clothes from Bobby.

He smiled and turned around to give her privacy as she changed.

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Downstairs in the hallway, John studied the family pictures lining the wall and remembered.

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Rogue laid a hand on Bobby's shoulder, signaling that she was now decently clothed.

Bobby turned around and handed her a pair of long white opera gloves. "These are my grandmother's." He said.

"Thanks."

Bobby studied her, desire clearly evident in his eyes. "You won't hurt me." He said as they closed the distance between them.

Bobby kissed her hard, enjoying the ability to be with his girlfriend before he felt his powers draining out of him at a terrifying speed, veins prominently showing on his pale face. He broke away with a gasp, panting.

"I'm—I'm sorry." Rogue apologized, breathing heavily with exertion. _I'll never even be a normal mutant._

Bobby sighed. "It's okay." He said silently disappointed, again, by the simple fact that he couldn't touch her the way a boyfriend should.

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Bobby and Rogue headed down the stairs and were joined by John. As they entered the living room a strange tingling sensation passed through them. However, they quickly shrugged it off instead focusing on the now awake Beast.

"Dr. McCoy! How are you feeling?" Rogue asked standing next to Harry.

"I'm feeling much better now, thank you." Hank replied formally before looking to Harry. "I believe it is time to wake the other two up explain some things." Hank said meaningfully.

Harry sighed not really looking forward to beginning grilled and probably threatened by Logan. He waved his hand and said "Ennervate", mostly for the benefit of the three wide eyed teens.

Logan jumped to his feet, adamantium claws unsheathed ready to fight. Gambit's red-ringed eyes opened, showing that he was already drawing on his power and was ready to fight even as he landed on his feet.

"Hi." Harry said sheepishly.

The two mutants finally focused on their surroundings and studied the Brit, the doctor and the three teens.

"What the hell happened?" Logan growled, remembering the unnatural sensation of pain ripping through his body and the redheaded male that had caused the pain.

Harry sighed, knowing it was going to be a long morning. "I can explain."

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"Oh dear." Luna said in greeting as Storm and Jean entered the jet with Kurt in tow.

"What's the matter?" Storm asked the young British mutant.

"We need to get to Bobby Drake's house as fast as possible. I have the bad feeling that they are going to need an escape vehicle pretty soon." Luna said her silver eyes clouding as she recalled the vision she had of her beloved brother.

Storm and Jean exchanged glances as Kurt studied the strangely dressed blonde in fascination. Did he know her from somewhere?

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"Well start explaining, bub." Logan growled out impatient now that he was finally going to get some straight answers out of the kid.

Harry shifted nervously before deciding to plunge into hell on earth feet first.

"I'm a wizard."

Logan stared at the kid. He had to be joking. Logan knew there was no such thing as magic, but the kid believed what he was saying. Neither his posture nor his scent gave any indication of lying.

Gambit just stared at Harry with unreadable eyes.

"You mean like a wand-waving, pointy hat wearing and yelling Abracadabra kind of wizard?" John asked incredulously. Trust John to break up awkward silences.

"I have never said the word Abracadabra in my life." Harry said. "However, the pointy hats are part of the wizarding fashion staples and for most wizards a wand is a must." Harry replied, smiling slightly as he recalled the hats that were part of their school uniform.

"I don't believe you." Logan said crossing his arms over his chest and staring at Harry.

"What he's saying is true Logan. I'm a wizard as well." Hank said. Now the five American mutants stared at Hank in shock.

"No way." Bobby said, caught off guard that the practical and realistic doctor actually believed in magic let alone practiced it.

"Prove it." Logan said challengingly.

Harry sighed. He could tell this was going to take a long time. So he pulled out his wand, for the benefit of his audience since he really didn't need it anymore, and turned the coffee table into a golden retriever.

You could have heard a pin drop as the Americans studied the moving, breathing and barking dog.

"That is impossible." Rogue breathed out amazed at what Harry did.

"Hardly." Hank said as he cast the counter-spell changing the dog back into a table. "Transfiguration is a branch of magic that has existed for thousands of years and magic, really, doesn't follow the laws of physics." Hank explained.

"So if you're a wizard why did you come here?" John asked. "Surely there's some kind of wizard society."

Harry sighed. Of course they had to start off with the most difficult question.

Hank glanced at Harry silently asking if Harry wanted him to take over the explanations. Harry gave a slight nod. It would help if the others had some background knowledge before he told his story.

"I think I had better give you some background information and tell you my own story first." Hank said. "There is a society of witches and wizards that is separate from the so called "normal" world. We call them "Muggles" or people that don't have any magic. Basically there are five divisions in the magical world. First, are the purebloods; as the name suggests they are extremely old families who have never intermarried with muggles though it is possible that they have intermarried with Magical creatures. Then there are muggle-borns. Basically these are witches and wizards who were born to muggle families that have had no trace of magic beforehand. No one is entirely sure how this comes about, but it is a common occurrence. Then there are half-bloods or witches and wizards who have one pureblood parent and one Muggle-born parent. There are also Squibs who are born to pureblood families but have so little magic that they can't cast spells. Finally there are Magical Creatures, which are basically the creatures from Muggle legends. Vampires, Veelas, Fairies, Elves, Pixies, Centaurs, Dragons, etc. all exist in the magical world. In the old days, at least, it was common for pureblood families to intermarry with magical creatures to strengthen the inherent magic in their lineage." Hank explained. "Are you with me so far?" He asked his enraptured audience.

"So basically you're saying that there are different categories of witches and wizards based on their family history." Bobby summarized.

"More or less. Our society is different from the muggle world in that race, religion and sexual orientation are not discriminated against. However, there is a hierarchy based on blood purity. The old pureblood families are considered the aristocracy simply because they have no "impure" blood in their lineage. Half-bloods are considered better than muggle-borns simply because of the pureblood parent and squibs and muggle-borns are heavily discriminated against, the former for their inability to use magic and the latter for having "impure" or "tainted" blood."

"So dere be status based on ya ancestry?" Remy asked from where he leaned against the wall.

"Pretty much. This has caused a lot of problems in the past as there have been Dark Lords and Ladies that have risen to prominence because of their views that Muggles should be either subjugated to wizard rule or exterminated. Unfortunately the rise of powerful Dark Lords and Ladies have occurred far too often and all have pretty much spouted the same nonsense." Hank said.

"So are you a muggle born?" Rogue asked wondering why Hank would choose to live among muggles if purebloods had a prejudice against anyone from a non-magic family.

"On the contrary, I am from a very old pureblooded family. We could trace our lineage back to the time of Camelot and we prided ourselves on the fact that there wasn't a drop of muggle blood anywhere in our lineage. I attended one of the three most well-known wizarding schools in the world. Durmstrang Institute is in Bulgaria has a reputation for teaching the Dark Arts. I attended the institute for seven years from the time I turned eleven until I graduated in the top of my class when I was eighteen. After that I had decided to become a healer, which is the wizarding version of a doctor, so I entered into an apprenticeship with a Healer who was a friend of the family. I finished my apprenticeship when I was twenty-one and became a fully-licensed Healer. Unfortunately I never got a chance to start my own career because odd things started to happen to me and well, eventually my mutant abilities surfaced." Hank said trailing off as he remembered his family's reaction.

"Let me guess. You're family wasn't happy with you being a mutant." Bobby stated.

"You're right. They were not happy especially as I was the oldest and the heir to the family. Well, let's just say there was a lot of yelling and screaming, some hexes were thrown and I was disinherited. Luckily though I had my own money saved up and the goblins were able to get me a new identity and helped me settle in the States. They placed a glamor on me, to hide my mutant characteristics, so that could I enroll in med school. Finally I got my degree and started working in a hospital. Then I heard about Xavier and the school he was running so I decided to join and help out. The goblins removed the glamour and helped me establish Occulmency shields in order to keep Charles from finding about the wizarding community, which would have been a breach of the Statue of Secrecy. And I've been here ever since." Hank finished looking at the others for questions.

"What's the Statue of Secrecy and why didn't you tell anyone?" Logan asked surprised. Hank had been at the school longer than he had and he was surprised that no one had known that Hank was a wizard. Which was still a mind boggling revelation in the first place.

"The Statue of Secrecy is a law that is in effect to keep muggles from discovering the wizarding world. It is also forbidden for a witch or wizard to inform muggles about the wizarding world unless it concerns immediate family. It was only just recently that the Ministry of Magic has decided that mutants are not muggles and can be informed about the Wizarding World's existence." Hank explained. "Also I really didn't feel like exposing myself to Xavier as I had enough problems with being known as a mutant, let alone a wizard."

"That must have been hard leaving your family and your heritage for something completely different." Rogue said compassionately, able to read between the lines and realize how much it had hurt the doctor to be rejected by his family. Then again wasn't that how all the mutants who had been discovered and rejected by their families felt? It certainly applied in her case.

"What about you Harry? Why are you in America and not England?" John asked, interested in the other male's story.

Harry sighed. He really hated this part. "Well, first off to understand my story you also need some background about the political state of the wizarding society." Harry stated slowly trying to figure out and where to begin and avoiding Remy's heavy gaze.

"About 30 years ago there was a powerful dark wizard that wanted to ensure pureblood supremacy by destroying muggle borns for tainting our society and he wanted wizards to take their "rightful" place as rulers over muggles instead of remaining in a separate and hidden society. He called himself Lord Voldemort." Hary began.

Remy couldn't stop a snort from escaping. "'e called himself Flight o' Death?"

The corners of Harry's lips quirked upwards. "Well I never claimed he was creative. But Voldemort gathered followers among the purebloods and started a war. The Order of the Phoenix was a group of wizards and witches dedicated to stopping Voldemort. Once they graduated from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, another of the three most well-known wizarding schools, my parents joined the fight against Voldemort. My father was a pureblood wizard from a very old, prestigious and powerful wizarding family. My mother was a muggle-born, but she was incredibly smart and graduated first in her class. The war was hard and a lot of people died, but eventually a Seer made a prophecy, and the contents of the prophecy changed a lot of things." Harry said.

He trailed off and took a moment to wonder what his life would have been like if Trewlaney hadn't made that prophecy and if Snape hadn't overheard part of it and then run off to tell the Dark Lord.

"It said _'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches …Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies … and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not … and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies….'_

"Prophecies really exist?" Bobby exclaimed surprised.

Hank looked at the Boston teen and said dryly, "If it is possible to turn a table into a dog it is certainly possible for a prophecy to exist and to determine the path of someone's life."

Bobby flushed at that reminder, but Harry only smiled bitterly.

"And that's what the prophecy did: it controlled my life and I didn't even find out about its existence until I was fifteen." Harry sat silently for a moment replaying the events of those early years in his mind. "After Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts and the leader of the Order, found out about the prophecy he told my parents and they took me and went into hiding by means of a spell called the Fidelius Charm. Basically you could look into the window of the house they were in and you wouldn't be able to see them. But to work the spell needs a Secret Keeper, someone who could keep the secret of the location and not reveal it. Because once the Secret Keeper told someone else then that person could enter the hiding place. The most logical choice for my parents was my godfather and my dad's best friend, Sirius Black. Unfortunately Voldemort knew that too, so my parents and Sirius secretly switched Secret Keepers to another of their friends Peter Pettigrew. But unlike Sirius he wasn't a true friend and was actually a Death Eater, one of Voldemort's servants. He told his master about the cottage in Godric's Hollow where we were hiding and on Halloween Voldemort attacked. My dad died trying to give my mom time to escape with me, but Voldemort caught up to her and tried to get her to move away from me so that he could kill me. My mother sacrificed herself to save me and when Voldemort cast the Killing Curse at me it rebounded and struck him instead, disintegrating his body and leaving me with my curse scar." Harry said indicating the pale lightning bolt scar on his forehead.

Remy's eyes softened slightly at the thought of his _cheri's_ parents dying so young and leaving him an orphan. It was a good thing he had his godfather to take of him.

"My godfather went after Pettigrew for revenge, but Pettigrew changed into his Animagus form, a rat, and left my godfather to shoulder the blame for the death of thirteen muggles. He didn't get a trial and was thrown into Azkaban prison for twelve years. It was a wonder he didn't go completely insane." Harry said a sad smile hovering around the corner of his mouth as he thought about the man who was the one of the last links to his parents.

"Why would he go insane? I mean there are other innocent people who eventually get released from prison without going crazy." Rogue asked confused.

"That's because Azkaban is guarded by creatures called Dementors. They feed on happy emotions, draining them out of people leaving their victims to relive their most horrific memories over and over again. Eventually most people go insane. And the Dementor's Kiss is the worst punishment someone can receive. Basically the Dementor sucks the person's soul out of their body, leaving them alive, but with no mind of their own." Hank explained.

"Now that's horrific." Logan growled out.

"Sadly it still exists. Anyways Dumbledore sent me to live my aunt, my mother's sister, and her husband and son. They hated me because of my parents and the fact that I wasn't 'normal'." Harry said bitterly. "They made life very difficult for me even going so far as to…..well, it wasn't an easy life." Harry finished abruptly.

"Anyways I found out I was a wizard when I turned eleven. I ended up fighting one of my teachers who had Voldemort attached to the back of his head; in my second year I fought a giant Basilisk controlled by the Heir of Slytherin, Voldemort, which was petrifying students; in my third year I had to save my godfather after he escaped from Azkaban; in fourth year I had to stay alive while competing in the very dangerous Tri-Wizard Tournament and watched as Voldemort used my stolen blood to craft a new body; then in fifth year my godfather died trying to save me and I found out about the prophecy; sixth year I watched Dumbledore die when Death Eaters took over the school; and during my final year, after we destroyed all of Voldemort's Horcruxes, we finally faced off in what was essentially the final battle. I died to save my friends by destroying Voldemort's last horcrux, but as luck would have it I came back to life and defeated Voldemort once and for all. I was a fool to think that after I had defeated Voldemort I could settle into a normal, but I'm not normal and nothing good can happen to me without a million different bad things happening simultaneously to countermand my good luck." Harry finished his story in a burst of bitterness. The betrayal of his friends, his boyfriend and the machinations of the Ministry surged to the forefront of his mind, leaving a very bitter taste in his mouth.

In that moment, when the young Brit looked ready to collapse under the weight of years of memory, Remy wanted nothing more than to comfort him and assure him that he would take care of Harry and Teddy so that they wouldn't have to live with people who would manipulate and use them to their own advantage. But that would have to wait until later when he could show Harry how much he meant to Remy and with what Remy had in mind he needed to offer that comfort in private away from meddling teenagers. But until then Remy tried to convey through his eyes how he felt about the green eyed teen and that he wouldn't be so easily dissuaded by the fact that Harry was a wizard.

Harry felt the tension drain out of his body and felt a previously unknown sense of fear melt away, seeing the accepting and….loving….look in his Cajun's eyes.

The others, however, were even more confused than in the beginning. What was a Basilisk? A Horcrux? Harry died? How on earth did he come back to life? Why couldn't he live a normal life?

Logan frowned. He finally got some answers out the kid, but those answers only spawned more questions. Why had the Brit finally decided to tell them his story? And what did Hank mean when the Ministry of Magic decided mutants weren't muggles? They needed to have another talk and soon.

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Harry had answered a few more questions about the wizarding world in general, but the awkward conversation came to a stop when the front door opened and a masculine voice said, "Hey, Ronny. Next time you-" the man trailed off when he saw the seven mutants in various positions around his living room. "Who the hell are you?"

Bobby jumped up from his place on the couch and placed himself between the other mutants and his family.

"Bobby? Aren't you supposed to be in school?" his mom asked surprised.

"Uh…" Bobby trailed off not entirely sure how to tell his family the truth.

Before he could his dad interrupted. "Bobby who are these people?"

That he could answer. "Guys, this is Professor Logan, Professor LeBeau, Doctor McCoy, Harry Potter, Marie and John." Bobby introduced.

The other mutants gave the awkward waves characteristic of emotionally charged moments when both parties were caught unawares and in compromising situations.

Bobby just wanted to hide because he was sure he knew what was coming and he did not have good feelings about how this conversation was going to turn out. But he also needed to let them know what was going on.

"I have something I need to tell you."

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Laurio whistled to himself as he entered the security room where he was heading to bring the prisoner Magneto his lunch. He nodded to the guard behind the computer and stood under the scanner, waiting for the all clear signal.

The other guard watched the scan of Laurio's person, looking for any sign of high quantities of metal that could be used by Magneto. He thought he saw a blip, but when the scan didn't raise any other red flags he nodded to Laurio. "You're clear."

The plastic doors slid open and Laurio entered the plastic tunnel so he could get to Magneto.

"Have a nice sleep Lensherr?" Laurio asked the supine man listening to classical music as he set down the tray.

"There's something different about you, Mr. Laurio." Eric said sitting up.

Laurio paused on his way out and sighed. "Yeah. I was having a good day."

"No. No, it's not that." Eric said studying the guard as he stood up and started towards Laurio.

Laurio didn't like the look on Magneto's face. "Sit down." He commanded.

"No."

Laurio went for the baton hanging from his belt. "Sit your ass down."

Eric paid no mind to the guard's orders and instead slowly raised his left hand. "What could it be?"

Laurio started gasping for breath as his lungs felt constricted.

As Magneto's arm came up Laurio was lifted up from the ground by some mysterious force. "What are you doing?" the guard asked, scared.

Once Laurio was several feet off the ground, Eric spoke. "Ahh. There it is." He said this as though he had uncovered a huge secret. "Too much iron in your blood." Eric informed the hovering Laurio.

The guard didn't have time to speak before Magneto jerked his hand back causing a fine mist of blood to burst from the guard's chest. Using his mutant abilities Magneto condensed the very fine particles of iron, forcibly extracted from Laurio, into 3 compact and solid iron balls. Once all the iron had been removed from his body the guard dropped to the floor with a grunt, dead.

"Mr. Laurio, never trust a beautiful woman especially one who's interested in you." Eric advised the dead body before he concentrated on his newly acquire weapons.

The three balls shot into action, bursting through the glass doors over and over until there wasn't any glass to stand in Eric's way.

One of the security guards rushed to the door to see what was making all that noise. He paled when he realized that somehow Magneto had gotten ahold of metal. He quickly retracted the plastic tunnel hoping to halt the mutant's progress, to no avail.

Magneto concentrated and transformed one of the iron spheres into a flat and wide circle which he stepped onto and moved it, and himself, across the chasm and towards freedom. He used the other two spheres as weapons and slung them with such force that they pierced the doors and killed the other security guards.

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John started snapping the lid of his lighter open and close while he leaned against the wall next to Harry, conscious of the mounting tension in the room.

Beast was glad that he had thought to throw up a glamour to hide his physical mutation when he had heard the slam of the door. This was a very tense conversation and he didn't think it would go any smoother if he remained sitting with blue fur to distract the parents from their son.

Logan and Gambit paced near the entrance to the glass sliding doors hoping to speed this highly awkward and tense situation up without causing problems for Bobby.

"So, uh…." Bobby's mom began, "when did you first know you were a—a…." she trailed off.

"A mutant?" John chimed in helpfully. Or not as Mrs. Drake glared at him.

"Would you cut that out?" She snapped at John, referring to his continuous flipping of the cigarette lighter. He rolled his eyes at her.

"You have to understand we thought Bobby was going to a school for the gifted." Mr. Drake said timidly.

"Bobby _is_ gifted." Rogue spoke up from her seat next to Bobby.

"We know that." His dad retorted. "We just didn't realize he was…"

"We still love you, Bobby." His mom cut in abruptly. "It's just this mutant problem is a little…" She trailed off trying to find the right word.

"What mutant problem?" Logan piped up from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Complicated." Mrs. Drake finished rolling her eyes at Logan.

"What exactly are you a professor of, Mr. Logan?" Mr. Drake queried.

"Art." Logan ground out daring the Drakes to contradict him.

Rogue had to avert her eyes to avoid laughing at Logan's declaration which couldn't be farther from the truth.

"Well, you should see what Bobby can do." Rogue said trying to make the Drakes a little more accepting.

Bobby reached out for his mother's teacup. As she lowered it from her mouth he pressed his finger against the cup and concentrated. In less than thirty seconds the tea was nothing but a block of ice.

"Bobby." His mom breathed out in shock as she turned over the cup onto the saucer and the block of ice fell out of the teacup to his family's surprise.

"I can do a lot more than that." Bobby said somewhat proudly, hoping his family would find it as intriguing as he did.

Her hands shaking, Mrs. Drake practically threw the saucer and cup onto the coffee table as though it were contaminated with an infectious disease.

John chuckled, with a hint of cynicism, as he watched the scene.

Bobby's brother, who hadn't said a word since the whole explanation, finally jumped up and raced upstairs.

"Oh. Ronny!" Mrs. Drake called out.

Bobby stared after his brother and gave up any hope of reconciling his family to his abilities.

"This is all my fault." Mrs. Drake said shaking her head.

"Actually, they discovered that males are the one who carry the mutant gene and pass it on so it's his fault." John said condescendingly as he gestured to the pensive Mr. Drake who looked up in shock.

"John." Harry said warningly.

He only shrugged his shoulders, not at all repentant.

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Upstairs, Ronny stood looking over the railing at the strange people who had invaded his home and turned his brother into some kind of freak.

_[TV] …..the assassination attempt….._

Ronny looked at the phone in his hand and started to dial a number.

"9-1-1. Please state your emergency."

"I need the police. There are people in our house. They won't let us leave."

_[TV] Authorities refused to comment but it's believed that a manhunt for several fugitives from the facility is now underway." _

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Storm fiddled with the communication panel on the jet trying to get into contact with someone. "Nobody's responding. I can't get a signal." She said to Jean.

"Why don't you take a break? I'll keep trying." Jean said to the other woman.

Storm nodded and unbuckled her seatbelt. "Right." She headed to the back intending on talking to the new and intriguing mutant.

When she got back to the passenger area she saw that Kurt was leaning forward in his seat, the better to listen to Luna ramble on about Germanic _Wrackspurts_ and how they could cloud a person's dreams which could cause the human to misinterpret the meaning of their dreams which were in reality premonitions of the future.

As she neared the two, Storm could make out the confused adoration in Kurt's eyes and how his entire being was focused on Luna's words. In that moment, she knew she had lost Kurt before she even realized there had been a competition for his attention.

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This time the tension in the Drake house was broken by a beeping noise.

They all looked at Bobby until he realized that the strange device he had taken from Scott's car was actually a cell phone. He pulled it out of his pocket only to have it snatched from his hands by Logan. "It's for me." He said walking outside.

"Bobby….have you tried not being a mutant?" Mrs. Drake asked.

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"No one's left, Jean. Soldiers came." Logan explained to the red-head.

"What about the children?" Storm questioned worriedly.

"Some of them escaped. I'm not sure about the rest." Logan responded.

"We haven't been able to reach Scott or the professor either." Jean said starting to get extremely worried. The two women exchanged glances. "Where are you, Logan?"

"Boston, with Bobby Drake's family."

The two women looked at each other again. Luna had been right, but how had she known?

"Okay. We're on our way." Storm replied taking her seat.

"And Storm? Make it fast." Logan stated sensing danger as he headed inside.

"We have to go now." Logan said startling all the occupants of the living room.

Gambit, Harry and Beast looked confused, but then their heightened senses picked up a sense of danger.

"Why?" Rogue cried out.

"Now!" Logan commanded as the teens and the Drake family stood up.

"Logan, what's wrong?" Rogue persisted.

"Now, Rogue, Bobby." Harry snapped out even as he shoved John towards the door.

The mutants strode out the front door only to halt on the porch as they were confronted with a wall of police cars and police officers with guns trained on them.

"Drop the knives and put your hands in the air." One officer shouted from the right side of the porch his gun aimed at the mutants.

They looked to the left and saw another officer with her gun trained on them.

"What's going on?" Logan asked confused.

"Ronny." Bobby breathed out, realizing that he could never go back to his family now.

"I said drop the knives." The officer repeated.

Bobby's parents looked behind themselves in surprise as two officers started to pound on the sliding glass doors. "Open the door." One of them commanded.

When the two adults didn't respond fast enough the other officer said, "Break it."

Mrs. Drake screamed when the glass shattered, causing Bobby and Rogue to turn towards the house.

"Turn around. Up against the wall." The officers said to the Drakes.

"Okay!"

"This is just a misunderstanding." Logan said trying to defuse the situation.

"Put the knives down." The officer ordered again, starting to lose his patience.

"Harry now would be a good time to use some magic and get us the hell out of here." Logan growled under his breath.

Harry nodded and before the officers could see what he was doing Harry lunged forward extending both his arms out and shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

The officers were shocked and scared when their weapons flew out of their hands and landed far out of their reach. "Stupefy!" He cried out in rapid succession and every police officer toppled over, unconscious.

Logan smirked. The kid was obviously very useful. He wondered what else both Harry and Hank were able to do with this magic of theirs.

Harry looked at the older mutants. "I'm going to erase their memories, but it is best if we are on our way out when I do that." Harry said and then looked over at Bobby. "I can also erase your family's memories as well. I'll make them believe that there was a burglary in their house and they won't remember anything about you being a mutant." Harry said haltingly.

Bobby glanced back towards the house and didn't say a word.

John instead of making a sarcastic comment, for once, placed his hand on Bobby's shoulder in a rare display of support.

"That is one of the reasons why the Ministry of Magic was willing to reach out to the mutant community. Families sometimes react too fast without taking time to really think through their words or actions. They come to regret it but the first words always hurt the worst and sometimes that trust and love can't be fully repaired." Harry said gently.

Bobby sighed. "Go ahead and do it. I want to talk to them some more and try to make them understand." Bobby said. "I just don't have the time to do so now." He said shutting his eyes in pain.

Harry gave him a compassionate look and closed his eyes in concentration as he focused his wandless magic into the false memories he would implant in the police officers and the Drake family.

Seeing Harry's nod, Hank shouted, "Obliviate!", several times in rapid succession to encompass all the non-mutant bystanders.

Quick on Hank's heels Harry pushed his magic outward telling it, without words, to take up residence in the minds of the bystanders just as the X-Men's jet landed in the middle of the street.

"Come on let's go." Logan ordered as the ramp lowered for them. The seven mutants raced towards the jet with Harry keeping the Stupefy in place on the officers and the Drake family.

Bobby looked back once, but quickly hurried to catch up with the others.

As soon as they all boarded the plane and it went into stealth mode, Harry released the chokehold on his magic and cancelling out the Stupefy spell.

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"_Guten Tag._" The blue skinned man greeted them as they entered the jet.

The others gave him only a cursory and curious glance as they hurriedly sat down wanting to get as far away as possible.

Harry, on the other hand, noticed the way his sister was watching the yellow-eyed man and studied him more closely even as he buckled himself into the seat.

"Is he the one?" He asked his sister confusing everyone else.

"Yup. The pixies told me who he was. Did you explain to the Nargles yet?" She asked him dreamily.

"To some, but not all." Harry replied further puzzling Jean, Storm and Kurt although the others had some idea what was going on.

"Who the hell is this?" Logan decided to butt in, having already had his fill of surprises for the day.

"Kurt Wagner." The man introduced himself. "But in the Munich circus I was known as 'the Incredible Nightcrawler-"

"Yeah, save it." Logan interrupted. "Storm?"

"We're outta here." She responded.

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A/N: That's the end of this chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. There will be some more explanations in the next chapter and some action too. Please read and review! It really makes my day! ~Dark Disaster


	9. I'm Dying on the Inside

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed I always appreciate them. And now onto the drama!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warning: Heavy slash scene ahead. Don't like don't read.

**I am Dying on the Inside**

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Xavier looked down at his feet on which he was standing. _This wasn't right._

"Jason. Stop it!" Xavier yelled snapping out of the illusion Jason had built in his mind.

The wheelchair-bound mutant gazed back at him with glassy mismatched eyes and rebuilt another illusion.

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Xavier was sitting in his wheelchair when he heard crying behind him.

"It's all right." He said to the young girl curled up against the wall. "You can come out." He coaxed softly.

"Have they gone?" She asked whimpering.

"Yes." Xavier replied as she got up and walked over towards him. "Where are all the other students?" He questioned.

"I don't know." She said, looking scared.

"Well, then, we'll just have to find them, won't we?" He asked the little girl smiling reassuringly. "We'll use Cerebro." He said wiping away the tears from her, one blue and one green, eyes.

"Come on." He said.

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Harry leaned his head against the back of his seat and sighed as he listened to Logan, Jean and Storm argue about where they should go next. Jean wanted to hunt down Scott and the Professor, but Storm and Logan wanted to head back to the mansion to find out what happened to the rest of the kids and then find the other two leaders.

He was in agreement with Logan and Storm if only because he could cast a couple of spells, Dark to be sure, but ones that would help him track down Ron's magical signature. If he could find the Weasel then he would find his son and more than likely Stryker.

_His son._

Harry had to furiously blink back tears at the thought of his two year old son alone with those traitors. After what they did to him, how dare they come back and try to ruin his life again!

The teens screamed as the jet suddenly took a nosedive and for a second the lights on all the equipment went out.

_Shit._ Harry thought and quickly reeled his magic back in. This was no time to get emotional!

The kids stopped screaming once Jean and Storm got the plane back under control. The two women were whispering back and forth furiously trying to figure out what had just happened.

Luna placed a hand on her brother's knee in a silent show of support. While Jean and Storm went to retrieve Kurt she had had a vision about Teddy. She was not happy that her baby 'nephew' had been kidnapped by those good-for-nothing-scum-of-the-Earth-, well, idiots who had taken Teddy to get revenge on Harry for his imaginary crimes against them.

Unlike her brother, however, she knew that Teddy would be safe and that he would, indirectly, help Harry get over some lingering issues he needed to overcome to obtain that happy future she saw for him.

Although….sometimes she had visions of three hooded people and a distinctive high-pitched cackling. But all the remaining Death-Eaters had been caught and sentenced to receive the Dementor's Kiss, including Bellatrix Lestrange. Right?

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"How far are we?" Logan asked Jean.

"We're coming up on the mansion now." Jean replied. She had given in gracefully and agreed that finding the children was the most important thing at the moment.

"I've got two signals approaching." Storm said looking at the monitor. "Coming in fast." She said worriedly.

A voice came on over their intercom. "Unidentified aircraft, you are ordered to descend to 20,000 feet. Return with our escort to Hanscom Air Force Base. You have 10 seconds to comply."

Jean, Storm and Logan looked at each other worriedly.

"Wow, somebody's angry." Storm said.

"I didn't realize going back to the mansion was going to cause such a fuss." Logan said dryly. "The soldiers must still be there."

The voice came back on the intercom. "We are coming up alongside you to escort you to Hanscom Air Force Base. Lower your altitude now."

The pilots looked out the windows at the two fighter jets that had them boxed in.

One of the fighter jet pilots gestured downwards.

"Repeat, lower your altitude to 20,000 feet. This is your last warning." The voice said angrily.

The two jets slowed down until they were behind the jet.

"They're falling back." Storm said surprised.

Harry had a sinking feeling in his stomach. This was not going to go over well.

The other passengers, especially the teens, were just as afraid.

A beeping noise from the console drew everyone's attention.

"They're marking us." Storm said.

"What?" Logan asked from where he stood behind Jean, not exactly understanding.

"They're going to fire. Hang on!" Storm shouted.

Logan rushed for his seat as Jean increased the jet's speed to get away from their pursuers.

The alarm continued beeping as everyone scrambled to fasten to their seatbelts.

Harry noticed Rogue struggling with hers and used magic to buckle it for her. She threw him a shaky grin even as Kurt crossed himself and started mumbling a prayer under his breath.

"I gotta shake 'em." Storm said in warning as she turned the plane till it was practically on its side. Then she and Jean moved the plane from side to side and even upside down to try and confuse the enemy pilots.

"Please don't do that again." John said, trying not to throw up, after they righted the jet.

"I agree." Seconded a queasy-looking Logan.

As they took a dive to avoid the jets Logan shouted, "Don't we have any weapons in this heap?"

Immediately after he shouted, Storm's eyes clouded over as she summoned her weather abilities.

The previously blue sky turned dark gray as billowing storm clouds rolled in. Swirling vortexes descended from the clouds and into the military pilots' paths causing them to pull out every aerial stunt they knew to avoid the deadly twisters.

_Warning, Warning, Warning. _One of the pilot's consoles sounded the alarm as he tried to swerve around the huge columns while still trying to get a lock on the other jet.

Luckily for him, he was able to lock onto the plane and released two torpedo rockets just as he was caught in a twister and spun out of control. Satisfied that he got a lock on the 'enemy' he ejected himself from his jet and parachuted back to land.

Storm looked at the monitor and noticed that one of the jets was out of commission, but there was still another fighter jet on their tail.

_Warning, Warning, Warning._ The other pilot's guidance system sounded the alarm as he followed closely on the tail of the foreign jet, knowing his partner had launched two of the weapons. _Mutants._ The man thought in disgust as he tried to steady his weapon systems enough for it to lock onto the jet. _I'll be glad when we don't have to put up with them anymore._

_Finally. _He locked onto the jet and released two rockets in the nick of time. He evacuated the plane and parachuted to the ground just before his jet was caught in a twister and torn apart.

As Storm's eyes went back to normal so did the sky and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Everyone okay back there?" Jean asked.

An affirmative chorus answered her question except for Logan's loud "No."

A beeping noise from the monitor scared everyone as they realized rockets were hurtling towards them.

"Oh, my God. There are three of them." Storm said scared.

In the other passenger seat Jean concentrated her telekinetic powers on one of the rockets. She focused on tampering with the guidance system in order to force it from its path.

With a surge of power her eyes turned a fiery orange and the rocket swerved, blowing up on itself.

"There's two more." Storm said worried as she glanced at Jean.

"I…I can't." Jean stammered trying to draw on more of her ability and finding herself unable to do so.

"Harry, do something." Logan growled at the younger Brit.

With no time to cast any spells, Harry gathered his magic and forced it into the rockets. Magic and technology really don't go hand in hand Harry thought to himself as his magic short-circuited the guidance system causing the two rockets to blow up without destroying the jet.

The two pilots let out a sigh of relief when the rockets were destroyed.

None of them knew about the fourth rocket until it hit the rear end of the plane, creating a large hole at the back and sending the plane into an uncontrolled nosedive.

Everyone was screaming in fear as the plane plunged towards the ground at a terrifying speed.

"Reparo! Reparo!" Hank shouted in rapid succession.

Jean and Storm watched, amazed, as the metal knitted itself back together like new. However, the control system was down and neither Jean nor Storm could get the plane under control.

Even as the plane continued falling Harry forced his mutant powers to morph into Jean's. He concentrated as hard as he could to force his telekinesis to grab a hold of the plane and gently, gently lower it to the ground. Luckily he didn't have far to go because he could feel his energy draining out of him at a terrifying speed. _How did Jean do this all the time?_

He lost control of the plane and consciousness a few feet from the ground causing the plane to land hard, but intact with no one injured.

As soon as the plane was on terra firma, Gambit was out of his seat and crouching in front of his unconscious boyfriend.

"I don't know if I ever want to fly on a plane again." John said as he let his chin collide with his chest.

Kurt's eyes were still closed and he was continuing mumbling a prayer otherwise he might have seconded John's statement.

Hank unbuckled his seatbelt in order to stand next to Gambit. He made a quick swishing motion with his wand and read the glowing words that appeared in front of him.

"Is 'e goin' ta be a'right?" Remy asked reaching up to tenderly brush aside a lock of hair from Harry's face.

"He will be fine. But we should set up a place to stay for the night and get him to rest. He really needs to replenish both his energy and his magical reserves." Hank said.

By this point, Storm and Jean were beyond confused and were ready to pounce on the doctor to figure out what the hell was going on.

But Logan shook his head at the two women and mouthed "Later."

Sighing, the two women didn't protest and went to see how much work was needed to be done in order to get the jet operational again.

The others grabbed the emergency tents and supplies from one of the compartments and headed outside to set up camp.

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Harry woke up with a start. _Where am I?_

He thought at first that he had been kidnapped, closed his eyes to ward of the memories of _that_ _night_, but after a second appraising look around the area he realized he was in a tent, _and not tied down_, and then he remembered the attack and how he had guided the plane until he blacked out from using up too much of his energy.

Then he turned over onto his left side so that he was facing the tent wall and prepared to wake up Teddy with a soft kiss to the forehead and a croon of "Teddy-bear" that had become their daily ritual.

_Teddy was gone_.

Harry grew completely still and the emotionless mask, which he had perfected during the war to protect himself from the growing toll of the dead, slid onto his face. What he needed to do was to get up, find a way to fix the jet and then hunt down this man called Stryker. He was going to torture the son of a bitch to find out where Ron was and then he would make the redheaded bastard pay for thinking he could mess with his family.

He really needed to move, catch the others up to speed and get moving because in war that was the only way he knew how to function.

So he stood up, but his shaky legs couldn't support his weight and he ended up collapsing to his knees on the floor.

Dammit. Now he had to push himself up and recover from that humiliation, but there was no one around to witness his humiliation, but then why were there tears dripping down his face?  
_Teddy._

He cried silently for the bright little boy that had become the savior for the Savior. It was odd, but Harry's world had become centered around that little boy since they left England and the memories it held. Before deciding to raise Teddy he had been at a loss. The war was over and Voldemort was dead. His very reason for existence was gone. Sure he had decided to become a Medi-Wizard, but that was only because he needed something to do with his life rather than just wasting away. After all he had no prospects for a proper relationship, at least one that he could be safe in, and the majority of the people he considered his family were either dead or had betrayed him.

Harry only came to his senses when he realized everything in the tent was floating in the air, including him.

His magic was getting out of control in response to the rollercoaster ride his emotions were taking. He had a habit of shutting his emotions down when bad things happened. Of course if he went too long without acknowledging said emotions they tended to build and build until finally they burst like a dam and let his magic flood out of him without regard to his wishes.

He could hear the others talking quietly outside and had caught the word wizard more than once so he knew that Hank and Luna were explaining things to the other mutants. The burden of his self-appointed duty removed Harry gathered as much of his magic as he could and Apparated himself to a random spot in the forest. Luckily he managed not to splinch himself or land in a tree.

And before he could do more than assure himself that there was no one around for miles his magic exploded.

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Gambit rolled his eyes as he listened to Jean deny the existence of magic for the third time since Hank and Luna started explaining to them about the Wizarding world in more depth. Hank had even demonstrated magic for Jean and she was still in denial.

Gambit sighed and glanced towards the tent that held his sleeping mate. He would much rather be curled up protectively around his exhausted Harry but as one of the X-Men he needed to be here.

They were supposed to talk about their plan to get the Professor and Scott since it was apparent they weren't going to be able to get into the mansion, but Jean was being incredibly stubborn. He had expected the red-haired mutant to be a little more open-minded, but he rather thought it was the irrationality of magic that was getting her hung up and not about the actual existence of witches and wizards. After all she prided herself on her scientific mind and rule-defying magic did not fit into her view of the world.

But even as he sat there contemplating this, he could literally see her reluctance crumple especially in the face of ample proof provided by Hank, a fellow mutant and doctor, and Luna.

He tuned out the conversation as he felt Harry wake and he followed the cycle of Harry's emotions.

Confusion.

Fear.

Sadness.

Rage.

Resolution.

Humiliation.

Anguish.

Deciding that his mate's comfort took precedence over the current conversation he rose from his seat, garnering everyone's attention, and headed toward the tent. He needed to make sure his mate knew that Remy would be there for him through whatever hard times he was going through. And for Remy, he tended to transmit that assurance through physical comfort. Even if his mate wasn't ready to fully, physically anyway, commit to their relationship Remy wanted, no needed, to give his mate that some sort of comfort away from the prying eyes of the rest of the team.

He was halfway to the tent when he suddenly felt Harry's emotions dull as though he was at a great distance. Confused and a little worried he started to run towards the tent, but was knocked down by a huge shockwave of energy.

It was powerful and unlike anything he had ever felt before. He could tell it wasn't anything like a mutant's ability, but at the same time he wasn't sure what else it could be. Was there an untrained mutant in the vicinity?

He struggled to his feet, but stood still when he heard Luna speak.

"Oh dear. Harry's not happy."

Gambit felt the surprise from the group mingle with his own. That huge energy wave came from his Harry?  
"Harry did that?" Rogue asked in shock as she stood up, brushing dirt from her pants.

"Yeah. He tends to lock away his emotions when he gets stressed out or the people he cares about get hurt. So he lets the emotions build up inside him without dealing with them and then when he finally acknowledges them at a later date it becomes too much for him. His magic was always so in tune with his emotions that it tends to react when he's feeling some emotion strongly and it tends to explode outward as a result of being cooped up. I knew I should have said something the moment I saw him on the plane and heard about what happened to Teddy." Luna said sadly shaking her head.

"But why would he have to lock his emotions away at all?" Bobby asked.

"It was a by-product of Harry's Occulmency training and it helped him to continue fighting in the war when so many people were dying, especially when he thought somehow that he should have been able to save them all." Luna said sadly.

Remy ignored the rest of the conversation and headed to the tent he set up for Harry and himself to share. He would wait for his mate to come back and offer him the comfort he needed.

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Harry wasn't sure how long he had been kneeling in the clearing, panting heavily from his earlier magical outburst, tears dripping down his cheeks. He forgot how shitty he felt after one of these sessions. After all it had been almost two years since he had felt such overwhelming emotions. He really didn't want to think what about what had caused that last outburst. How he avoided remembering the pain _Crucio_ and the humiliation _Look at him on his knees like the-_.

The trees that had survived the first explosion of magic were flattened under the stronger blast of magic caused by Harry's rage at the memories that, even now, haunted him.

Panting from the drain on his magical energy, he once again questioned his decision to come to the States and subject himself and his family to even more hardships. After all they really didn't have to involve themselves in this war at all. But there was-

Gambit.

And that was the deciding factor for Harry. In the short time he had been at the mansion the Cajun had become his rock. He felt safe letting his guard down around Remy, he trusted the man to look after Teddy when he felt so overwhelmed and out of control that he couldn't think straight. Harry also had to admit that the physical attraction was a factor as well. Wiping the tears from his face Harry took a deep breath. He needed to see the red eyed mutant, needed to explain about his past. And while he knew the man was okay with him being a wizard, but what would he think of the emotional baggage Harry carried with him? If Remy turned away, Harry didn't think he could survive that betrayal intact.

So Harry brushed the dirt off of his clothes, gathered his courage, his nerves and what remained of his magic before Apparating back to the tent he had woken up in.

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Remy sat on the cot his back to the tent wall and contemplated the empty space in front of him. He wished Harry would come back soon.

_POP_

Remy had a glowing card in his hand and was prepared to attack the intruder when he realized who had appeared. Tucking the card away in one of the pockets of his trench coat, he stood up, walked over to the nervous looking wizard and tugged him hard so that Harry tumbled forward into his arms.

Harry was a little thrown by Gambit's actions considering the fact that he had worked himself into a state thinking that the Cajun might not want anything to do with him. Faced with a good reaction, however, he let himself rest in Remy's arms for a moment before he stepped back and studied his boyfriend.

Remy lifted his hands to cup Harry's face and studied him intently. "Ah knew dat ya 'ad somet'ing ta do wit' magic afore ah even saw ya." Remy said quietly.

Harry stared at him for a long time too stunned to think of a reply. "How…how did you know?" He finally managed to croak out a response.

Gambit tugged Harry onto the cot and maneuvered him so that Harry's legs lay across his own and that Harry's head lay against his chest. "It was a bit o' a surprise ta me too _cheri._" Gambit said chuckling as he thought back to that day. "Ah was playin' a game o' solitaire when Rogue, Bobby 'n John came inta da room carryin' a book. Dey read dis passage 'bout soul-mates 'n 'ow it usually brought toge'r people o' de same sex 'n dat de wizardin' world was much more accepting of homosexuality cause o' a male pregnancy potion. Anyways dere was a spell 'bout 'ow ta find ya soul-mate in it. Well de kids t'ought it would be a good idea ta try it out. Ah didn't t'ink dere was any 'arm in it since it was nonsense anyways. Well dey tried it fo' de t'ree o' dem, but nothin' 'appened. Den Rogue had da bright idea ta perform it fo' me." Gambit explained before pausing to study Harry.

Harry thought he knew where this story was going but he wanted to hear Gambit to say it.

"Dis weird fog rolled in 'n dis mirror appeared 'n it showed ya talkin' ta some kind o' goblin. Course ah didn' know it was ya at de time. Afterwards ah made de kids promise not ta say a word. First ah was a little confused. Den when ah knew ya were comin' ta de mansion ah didn' want anyone ta pressure ya inta t'inkin' ya 'ad ta be wit' me. Ah t'ought dat if we really were soul-mates dat ah could win ya over wit' out ya knowin' bout it o feelin' pressured." Gambit explained.

Harry remained silent not really sure what to say.

"Ah might 'ave dismissed what ah saw if ah didn' 'ave dreams dat night 'bout dat same man ah saw in de mirror. It was like ah was watchin' someone else's life from far away." Gambit said.

Harry tensed. "What exactly did you see?"

"Ah didn' see everyt'ing. It was like a movie on fast forward. Ah saw a little boy growin' up in a cupboard alone, dat same boy eatin' ice cream wit' a giant man, den watchin' him fight some guy wit' anot'er guy on de back o' his head, a giant snake, some creepy t'ing in a long robe, a dragon, den a lot o' blood 'n ah 'eard a lot o' screamin'." Remy finished softly as he looked down at the tense and shaking wizard in his arms.

Harry pressed his head against Gambit's chest trying to work up the courage to tell the man, who held his heart, all of his darkest secrets. Finally, he took a deep breath and the words just tumbled out.

He told Remy about growing up in the dark cupboard at Number 4 Privet Drive where the spiders had been his only friends.

How even though he knew he shouldn't, he still hated the Dursleys, for the way they treated him in the darkest corner of his mind.

How he had been so amazed and overwhelmed at the wizarding world.

How he often cried in the dead of the night, throughout his school years, because of the expectations that the wizarding world placed upon the shoulders of a growing boy.

He felt ashamed when he talked about hating Ron in fourth year for turning away from him when he needed his friend the most and how he never really forgave Hermione for not standing up for him when she knew he hadn't entered his name in the tournament.

Harry spoke of the guilt that had plagued him when he thought about the death of his godfather and the shame that overwhelmed him when he hated his godfather for trying to make him a replacement for his father.

The fear that consistently plagued him when he realized he would have to kill or be killed if he wanted to be free of the prophecy that had shaped the course of his life.

He didn't notice the tears running down his face as he told about all the people who had died in the war and how he couldn't save them all.

Gambit tightened his arms around Harry briefly and started humming softly under his breath before he ran his hands up and down the Brit's arms offering silent comfort. He had a feeling that there was something else that was bugging the wizard.

"The so-called Final Battle with Voldemort didn't take place until a couple of months into seventh year, but what caused Voldemort to attack at the beginning of the year has only been known to three people: Bill and Charlie Weasley and me. Charlie's dead and Bill won't say anything to anyone." Harry began confusing Gambit.

"Dumbledore, the Headmaster, was practically a grandfather to me. He kept me sane when I felt like I was about to go off the deep end and sometimes he would call me up to his office just to play chess and eat lemon drops." Harry said as he smiled sadly in remembrance. "But for some reason he never listened to me when I told him about my life at the Dursleys. He would get this really far off look in his eyes and would sigh before saying I had to go back to stay in the safety of the blood wards that surround the house. Even after he died McGonagall wouldn't let me stay at the Order headquarters and shipped me back to the Dursleys."

"What 'appened in de 'ouse dat 'urt ya so bad?" Gambit asked when it seemed that Harry wouldn't go on.

"It was a week into the summer holidays after sixth year. Before we left school Ron, Hermione and I agreed that we would spend the summer hunting down the final Horcruxes. We knew there were three left. Hufflepuff's cup, Nagini and me, although we didn't know about the last one quite yet. I was expecting them any day and I wasn't as vigilant as I should have been." Harry said eyes closing as the painful memory assaulted him.

"Somehow Voldemort found out where I lived but also that the wards no longer held sway against him because he had taken my blood in fourth year during the Triwizard Tournament. He and some other Death Eaters Apparated to the Dursleys house, killed them and kidnapped me."

Gambit could only hold Harry tightly as he started to cry, tears dripping down his face.

"It was horrible in that tiny cell they kept me in when they weren't 'playing' with me. I couldn't even stretch out my legs and I couldn't escape from the scent of blood, my blood. It seemed I was always bleeding and my body continuously ached from the Cruciatus curse they used on me day after day. The Cruciatus was Lucius' favorite curse, while Bellatrix preferred using me as the tester of whatever combination of Dark spells she wanted to try out. Rodolphus and Rabastan liked to use both knives and the Cruciatus as well. There were times when I couldn't scream anymore and I just lay there trying to breathe. And the entire time I lay there I remember Voldemort's malicious crimson eyes staring at me, mocking me." Harry finished quietly studying his hands.

Remy ran his hands up and down Harry's comforting him. ""ow did ya get away?" He asked quietly.

For a moment Harry didn't answer. Then he shook his head and said, "Snape. He snuck into the dungeons and gave me a timed portkey. There was to be a Death Eater meeting that evening and the wards would be lowered just enough for special portkeys the Death Eaters had to get through. Snape stole some random Death Eater's portkey and refigured the destination to Egypt because no one would think to look for me there. Bill and Charlie found me there lying in the sand, just staring blankly into the desert. They took me back to Bill's place, healed my wounds and stayed with me. I slept with one or the other of them because I had such horrible nightmares that I would try and claw at myself in some attempt to make the nightmares stop." Harry briefly closed his eyes.

"By the time I had to go back to school I was better, but I would still wake in the middle of the night screaming for them to stop." He took a deep breath. "A month into the school year Voldemort started instigating battles against the Ministry. He lost some and won a lot and that plus my escape caused him to attack Hogwarts a couple months later. Luckily by that point we had managed to destroy the Horcux in Hufflepuff's cup. And when Voldemort finally attacked the school it was the bloodiest battle ever. The entire Auror force, the Order, the teachers, all of the students from the fourth year on up and all of the non-human allies we had were fighting. So many people died around me as I fought my way towards Voldemort I shot curses left and right beyond caring whether they were illegal or not. Neville managed to kill Nagini and the sixth Horcrux before Fenrir Greyback tore out his heart. Remus, Teddy's dad, killed Greyback and that was one death I rejoiced in." Harry said feeling the old pain resurface at the thought of the Longbottom heir who had grown up to become a brave leader.

"Ah understand _petit._ Dere been a couple o' people dat Remy secretly been 'appy dat dey were dead." Remy said quietly.

Harry flashed him a tight smile for the shared confession. "For the longest time we weren't sure what the final Horcrux was, but by the time it came to defeat Voldemort I knew the final Horcrux was myself. Or rather it was the curse scar that Voldemort gave me on the night he killed my parents. So when I got in front of Voldemort I dropped my wand and let him kill me." Harry explained.

Gambit was so surprised a gasp fell from his lips and he put his finger under Harry's chin to tilt it back so the Brit was looking up at him. "Ya died, 'Arry? 'Ow de 'ell did ya come back ta life?" He asked a little disbelieving as Harry was sitting, alive and well, on his lap.

"I'm not entirely sure how because everything's still fuzzy. But I remember "waking up" after Voldemort killed me at King's Cross Station, the place where we boarded the train to Hogwarts, or rather the spirit version of King's Cross. Dumbledore was there which was when I knew the place wasn't real. We talked for a long time, or maybe it was only a few minutes, but then he offered me a choice. The last of Voldemort's Horcruxes were destroyed which meant that someone else could kill him and I could pass on to Heaven where my parents and Sirius were waiting or-" Harry paused.

"O'?" Gambit prompted.

"Or I could return back to the land of the living and kill Voldemort once and for all and then live out the rest of my life. Considering I'm a very powerful wizard and the Master of Death it would be very hard to kill me." Harry explained.

Gambit leaned back against the tent wall and contemplated Harry's words for a moment. His poor _cheri _had been through so much in his life. He would question Harry some more about the Master of Death comment and what had driven him from Great Britain later. Right now he had a green-eyed wizard to take care of.

"Mah poor _cheri_. Let Remy take care o' ya tonight." Gambit purred as he nibbled lightly on Harry's neck and slipped his hand under Harry's shirt.

Harry gasped in surprised but tilted his head to allow Gambit easier access. He allowed his eyes to close as Gambit started to stroke his hipbone and sucked a mark on his collarbone. "Yesss." He hissed out finally giving into the desire that the red-eyed man had inspired in him since the moment they laid eyes on each other.

Remy grinned at Harry's response and in a quick movement slid Harry's shirt over his head and tossed it onto the tent floor. Gently laying Harry on the bed he covered the shorter man with his body and proceeded to thoroughly kiss Harry.

Harry wrapped his arms around Remy's neck and kissed back with as much passion as he could muster. He broke the kiss, however, and moaned loudly when the Cajun's nimble fingers found and pinched a nipple.

"Can ya be quiet _cheri_ o' do ya want de ot'ers ta figure out what we up ta?" Gambit taunted gently even as he pinched Harry's other nipple.

Harry moaned again at Remy's action. "No need." He panted before he grabbed his wand and quickly cast a silencing spell and a handy charm to warn them if anyone tried to enter their tent. It was a good thing his wand was close by because he wasn't sure he could focus enough to use his wandless magic.

"Handy." Remy said grinning before he proceeded to lavish Harry's shoulders, chest and abs with soft kisses. When he reached the waistband of Harry's jeans he paused and locked eyes with his soon-to-be lover. "'re ya sure ya want ta do dis? Ah'm not lettin' ya go no matter what 'appens." He said firmly.

Harry smiled and pulled off the band Remy used to keep his hair in a ponytail. He tangled his hand in the shoulder length chestnut hair and dragged the man up for a kiss. "Love me." He whispered against the Cajun's lips.

Gambit grinned and kissed Harry deeply as he hooked his thumbs under the waistband of his jeans and boxers and pulled them off in one quick motion. He pulled back slightly to study his lover and Harry blushed slightly under the intense scrutiny and at the heated look that practically set Remy's eyes afire.

"Why am I the only the one naked?" Harry asked petulantly as he slipped his hands under Gambit's shirt and stroked his chest.

Gambit chuckled even as he moved lower down Harry's body. "Don' worry love. Ah'll make it up ta ya." He trailed kisses down Harry's left thigh, over his knee, and down his calf before repeating the process on Harry's other leg.

"Remy!" Harry cried out desperately as he tried to shove Remy's mouth to where he needed it the most.

Remy chuckled and swallowed Harry's erect cock. He proceeded to worship Harry and set out to show the wizard how much he meant to Remy.

Harry's brain had turned to mush and all he could focus on were the electric jolts of pleasure Remy was causing as he alternately licked and sucked Harry's cock. And for the first time in a long while he didn't regret his decision to not give himself fully to Blaise.

He was startled out of his thoughts when Remy gave a particularly hard suck to his cock and a long finger was suddenly inserted into his entrance striking something that had him screaming his pleasure out loud. Remy pulled off his cock just as Harry's pleasure reached its peak and thick strands of warm cum coated his belly.

Remy crawled up Harry's boneless form and kissed him gently as he swiped two fingers through the mess on Harry's stomach and proceeded to work them gently into Harry's quivering hole.

"'ow did ya like dat?" Remy asked as he nibbled on Harry's throat and scissored his fingers in Harry's ass.

The wizard smiled at Gambit and tugged him up for a kiss. "That felt wonderful." Harry replied arching his hips as Remy's fingers struck that spot that set off sparks behind his eyelids.

"Glad ya liked it _cheri_ 'cuz ya will like dis e'en more." Remy said as he slipped a third finger into Harry's hole.

He whimpered a little in pain and Remy was quick to take his softened cock back in hand, gently stroking it to distract Harry from the pain.

Remy started murmuring words of love in French into Harry's ear as slipped one last finger into Harry's willing hole.

Harry was overwhelmed by the pleasure coursing through his body and all he could do was push back on Remy's fingers, ride the fingers that were spreading his ass for something much better. Harry cried out as those fingers struck his pleasure spot again and again before they suddenly disappeared. "No!" Harry cried out in disappointment. "Put them back, Remy." He moaned out, his ass felt empty and he wanted that feeling of being full back.

A self-satisfied smirk spread across Remy's face. "Don' worry _mon petit_. Remy fill you up wit' somet'ing much better." He crooned as he stripped his shirt off and then quickly tugged off his own pants and boxers.

Harry barely had time to admire the sculpted body and the long thick cock before Remy swiped his fingers through the remaining cum on Harry's stomach and covered his erection with it.

Remy let his body cover Harry's even as he gently worked his cock inch by slow inch into Harry's very willing body.

Harry threw his head back against the mattress, one hand tangled in the sheets and the other dug into Remy's muscled shoulder. He writhed beneath the other man, his body was burning up from the inside and he needed Remy to do something, anything. "Remy please!" He moaned not entirely sure what he was asking for. Remy's cock was much bigger than his four fingers and he felt his ass burn as it was stretched to the point where he thought he was going to be split in two.

Remy for his part had to close his eyes, his face buried in the crook of Harry's neck. "_Mon Dieu, cheri. _Ya be so tight 'round Remy's cock. Remy t'ink it be de next best t'ing ta 'eaven." He said pressing kisses to Harry's throat even as he pushed himself up onto his knees. He slid his hands under Harry's ass and pulled his cock out of that delicious hole until only the head of his penis remained inside. Then, much to Harry's vocal delight, he slid home all the way, the muscles in Harry's passage giving way to his invasion.

"Remy!" Harry screamed as the Cajun mutant started thrusting in and out of his ass at a steady pace.

"Do ya like dat _cheri?_" Remy questioned breathlessly as he continued the steady thrusting.

"Uh….uh….harder! Harder Remy!" Harry cried out in answer. His ass burned from the pain of being stretched but he needed something more than the steady but slow thrusts.

"Ya wish is mah command." Remy said smirking as he slammed his hips forward hard, striking Harry's prostate.

Harry arched his back and let out a shriek of pleasure. Merlin that felt so good. "Harder Remy. I need you to go harder." He panted, moaning and writhing beneath his sexy mate.

Remy didn't bother replying and instead threw Harry's legs over his shoulders and bent the younger man practically in half as he sped up his thrusts, pounding into the green eyed wizard and striking his prostate with every thrust.

In this new position, Remy's cock went even deeper into his passage than before and Harry was reduced to incoherent shrieks and cries of pleasure. Remy was so big and hard inside him and he kept hitting that special spot inside him.

"Ahhh _cheri,_" Remy groaned continuing to thrust, "Ya 're so tight 'n hot 'round mah cock. Ya feel so good 'round me as ah slam mah cock inta ya."

"You…you feel so…so…good too Remy. Mmmm…so good!" Harry cried out as Remy wrapped a hand around his leaking cock and started pumping it in time to his thrusts.

"Ya 're mine 'Arry. Ya belong ta me 'n no one else." Remy growled out as he drove his hips forward again and again as he continued to stroke Harry's hard erection.

Harry screamed as his orgasm hit him and he spilled his cum in Remy's fist even as he cried out, "Yours! I'm yours."

Remy growled and slammed his cock deep into Harry's hole twice more before the hot clenching walls of Harry's ass caused him to press his cock as deep as it could go and he coated Harry's passage with his seed. "Ah love ya _cheri_." Remy murmured into Harry's mouth as he kissed him softly.

Harry couldn't stop the tears that sprang to his eyes at Remy's words. He couldn't remember the last time someone had said that to him. "I love you too Remy." He replied quietly wrapping his arms around the Cajun.

Remy smiled and gently pulled himself from Harry's entrance and lay back on his side, spooning Harry from behind.

Harry muttered a Cleaning charm to get rid of the sticky cum from their bodies and then turned so that his face was buried in Remy's chest and their legs were tangled together.

"What do we do now?" Harry asked after a few moments of silence.

Remy pressed a gentle kiss to Harry's forehead. "Now we sleep 'n in de mornin' we see what repairs de jet need 'n den we go rescue Teddy." Remy replied.

"Good idea." Harry said before closing his eyes and drifted off to sleep, comforted by the strength of Remy's body wrapped around him.

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"Mornin' _cheri_."

Remy's warm Southern drawl was a nice wakeup call Harry decided as he opened his eyes and slowly stretched out the kinks in his body.

"'ow did ya sleep?" Remy asked bending his head to place tiny kisses on Harry's neck.

"Mmmm….best sleep I've had in ages. You?" Harry replied pressing his lips to Remy's.

"Just de same. Any pain?" Remy questioned, trailing his hand down Harry's back to trace a finger over his entrance.

"Only a little." Harry replied.

"Good. Ah 'eard de ot'ers get up 'n start makin' breakfast so ah be t'inkin' we should get up as well." Remy said still circling his finger around Harry's entrance.

Harry pressed his hips back trying to get Remy's finger to go in deeper. "We won't get up if you don't stop that." Harry moaned out.

Remy chuckled, pressed his lips to Harry's and then flung the covers off of both of them. "If ya insist." Remy said grinning as Harry shivered at the abrupt change in temperature.  
"You're evil." Harry growled at the other man before proceeding to get dressed.

"Ah know." Was the smug reply.

Harry slapped Remy lightly on the chest before raising himself up on tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips. "Come on we should join the others." With that the two fully dressed men exited the tent.

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"Well, it's about time you two lazy slugs got up." Storm said as she flipped a pancake on the portable stove.

"Ah needed mah beauty sleep." Remy drawled lazily as he poured himself and Harry a cup of coffee.

"Should've stayed in bed then." Logan grunted.

Rogue and John snickered at that. Harry gently cuffed the back of their heads.

"Remy t'ink ya could 'ave used a few decades o' beauty sleep as well." Remy teased the other man.

Logan was going to reply to the familiar banter, but was interrupted.

"Enough messing around." Jean said as she walked down the jet ramp. "Gambit I need you and Wolverine to help me get the plane fixed. Harry is there anything you can do to help us figure out where the kids, Scott or the Professor are?" She continued, making it clear that Hank and Luna had done a good job explaining everything last night.

Harry paused as he thought about that. "Maybe. I might be able to point us in the right direction at least."

"I think I can do better than that." A deep cultured voice said from behind them.

In a flash, everyone was on their feet, breakfast forgotten, as they spun around ready to face the enemy.

"Magneto. Mystique." Storm said surprised.

"I believe I have the information you need. And in this instance I think our goals are temporarily aligned." Magneto said.

"He's tellin' the truth." Logan said.

The X-Men were a little surprised at that and Rogue wasn't too happy, but they let Magneto and Mystique join them around the remains of their fire pit.

"I believe you know that the man who attacked the school was named Colonel William Stryker, right?" Eric Lensherr asked.

The others nodded in confirmation.

"Well, he invaded the mansion for one purpose. He wanted to get his hands on Cerebro." He stared at the X-Men. "Or enough of it to build one of his own."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Stryker would need the Professor to operate it." Jean protested.

"Which I think is the only reason our friend's still alive." Magneto replied.

"Oh my God." Storm breathed out looking at Jean in panic.

"Now what are you all so afraid of?" Harry asked. He vaguely remembered the Professor saying he had found out about the British wizards' location because of Cerebro, but he was still unclear as to what Cerebro was exactly.

"While Cerebro is working, Charles' mind is connected to every living person on the planet." Magneto replied. "If he were forced to concentrate hard enough on a particular group let's say, mutants, for example…He could kill us all."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise at that tidbit of information. He had known the professor was powerful, but to be able to do this….He wondered if his Occulmency barriers were strong enough to keep the Professor out of his mind if he was concentrating hard enough to kill.

"Wait a minute. How would Stryker even know where to find Cerebro in the first place?" Logan asked confused.

"Because I told him." Eric said guiltily after a pause. "I helped Charles build it, remember? Mr. Stryker has powerful methods of persuasion. Even against a mutant as strong as Charles."

Harry frowned. It almost sounded like Stryker could be using something similar to the Imperious curse. But that was impossible because he wasn't a wizard.

"So who is this Stryker anyways?" Hank asked confused.

"He's a military scientist that spent his whole life trying to solve the 'mutant problem'." Logan spat out.

"Fo' a while he was collectin' mutants to get deir DNA 'n create a powerful mutant-killer." Gambit replied rubbing the back of his neck. "He was usin' an island ta 'old de mutants captive but de Wolverine 'n ah destroyed dat place."

"He was also the bastard that injected adamantium into my body." Wolverine said. "I agreed in order to stop my brother Victor, but Stryker only wanted to know if my healing abilities could withstand the bonding process between body and adamantium. Once he knew it would work he tried to have me killed." He finished, thinking back to the one woman he loved and whom Stryker killed.

"So why do yah need us?" Gambit asked.

"Mystique has discovered plans of a base that Stryker's been operating out of for decades. We know that's where he's building the second Cerebro. But we don't know where this base is and I believe one of you might." Magneto finished.

"The only base I know of is the one near the nuclear power plant that the Cajun and I destroyed." Logan replied.

Gambit nodded his consent.

"Once again, you think it's all about you." Magneto said as he turned his head to stare at Nightcrawler.

"Me?" He asked as surprised as everyone else.

"I suppose that makes sense." Storm said dubiously as Jean knelt in front of Nightcrawler.

"Just try and relax." Jean said to him as she placed her hands on either side of head.

"Vill it hurt?" He asked worried.

Luna slipped her hand into his and before Jean could reply said, "Don't worry I'll keep the Snorlacks from hurting you."

Kurt smiled his thanks while Jean just looked at the blonde strangely.

Shaking her head she concentrated on Kurt's mind and especially on his memories about the attack on the President.

Jean jerked her hands back in shock after a moment. "I'm sorry." She apologized to Kurt.

"For vhat? I did not feel a thing." He said confused.

Jean gave him an odd glance before looking at the others. "Stryker's at Alkali Lake."

"I was there not too long ago. There was nothing left of the base like I remembered." Logan replied thinking back to the visit he had made last summer.

"There's nothing left on the surface, Logan. The base is underground." Jean said.

Harry pursed his lips in annoyance. If Stryker was at Alkali Lake then Ron would be there as well. Or had been there and he would be able to track that traitor from the base. He was going to find Teddy and the idiots who had kidnapped his son were going to pay.

"How long until you can get the jet off the ground?" Magneto asked Jean.

"If Gambit and Logan help we can leave within the hour." She replied.

"Okay you three work on the plane. The rest of us will clean up the campsite." Storm ordered. "And you two" she said pointing at Magneto and Mystique "don't cause any trouble."

Eric only smiled at her as the others hurried to clean up.

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"Harry, can I talk to you for a moment?" John asked while the others were occupied.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Harry asked the pyro.

"When did you find out you were a wizard?" John questioned not meeting the other's eyes.

"When I was eleven. I received a letter, but my uncle wouldn't let me open it. Eventually Hagrid the half-giant groundskeeper visited me and told me that in fact I was a wizard and not a freak like I had thought growing up and which my aunt and uncle reinforced. Why?"

"Because the earliest memory I have is of a tall dark-haired man saying 'Bella he's such a disappointment to our pureblood name.' I was in foster homes for a while before the St. Allerdyce's adopted me. Once they found out I was a mutant they sent me here and I haven't heard from them since then. Except for a letter telling me that I wasn't welcome in the house anymore." He finished bitterly.

"Did you say Bella?" Harry asked surprised when he heard John mention purebloods and that name in the same sentence.

"Yeah. That's the name I remember hearing. Do you know her?" John asked hopefully.

"Maybe." If for some odd reason he was talking about Bellatrix Lestrange nee Black there must be a record of John's birth on the Black Family Tapestry. He frowned. Half of the members of the most recent generations were carbonized black points for being traitors to the Dark side.

"Harry?" John queried. "Do you think it's possible that I'm a wizard?"

"If I'm thinking of the same person then yes it is possible. We have time for me to cast a quick spell that should tell me." Harry said. He made a quick slashing motion with his hand and thought of the words to the spell in his mind. A faint blue glow surrounded John.

Harry frowned.

"Well?" John asked hopefully.

"Well, you're definitely of wizarding heritage because if you were muggleborn then there would be a green glow, but…." Harry trailed off.

"But what?" John asked.

"But it looks like, in terms of power, you're barely above that of a Squib." Harry sighed. "If you're from the pureblood family I'm thinking of then you practically being a Squib would be unacceptable for them."

"Is that why they gave me up for adoption?" John asked, the old pain he had felt all those years slipping into his voice.

Harry sighed. "Purebloods are a very traditional and in some ways backwards lot. In order to keep the family line 'pure' there was a lot inbreeding between cousins. This often times caused insanity and squibs to pop up in the succeeding generations. This particular family was known for being Dark and adhered to a set of strict requirements for the members of the family. Your magic didn't manifest itself in the traditional form, instead concentrating into your mutant ability leaving you with only the barest amount of, well, 'normal' magic. Which would have been intolerable to the family. You're not alone though. At least half of the most recent family members are tiny carbonized points on the family tapestry for going against tradition. And you and I are probably related." Harry finished.

"Really?" John asked hopefully. Harry would make a wonderful family member.

"Most pureblood families are interrelated somehow. After all of this is over I'll take you to Gringotts and the goblins will brew a heritage potion for you. I'm pretty sure I already know the results, but let's just say welcome to the outcast club." Harry said wryly.

"Thanks Harry." John said hugging the older man before he darted back to help the others.

Harry slowly walked after him. He hoped he wasn't getting John's hopes up too high, but Harry had a good idea what family he belonged too. The only thing that was bothering him was the timeline. John was 19 and he was 22. Neville's family was attacked when he and Harry were almost two years old so that left one year for Bella to give birth to John. Didn't she go to prison right after the attack on the Longbottoms? Harry tilted his head to the side as he realized he didn't know for sure when the Lestranges were captured. He would have to look into all of this when they rescued Teddy.

"Harry come on! We're ready to leave." Jean shouted at him from the jet.

Shaking his head Harry raced up the jet ramp and buckled up.

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"Why don't we get uniforms?" Rogue asked as she and Bobby studied the X-Men's uniforms.

"Yeah. Where's ours?" Bobby parroted.

"They're on order. Should arrive in a few years." Logan retorted.

"Ah hate dese t'ings." Gambit complained.

"I think you think incredibly sexy in them. They show off your body perfectly." Harry whispered to Gambit as the man pulled on his usual trench coat, leaving it unbuttoned.

"Really? Maybe Gambit wear it just fo' ya _cheri._" Remy said with a cocky smirk.

Harry just grinned and focused on making sure the magical signature damper was in place on himself, Luna and Hank. After all no need to alert the traitor that they were coming for him.

John looked over at Magneto who was sitting with his head against the wall, Mystique next to him. "That's a dorky-looking helmet. What's it for?" He asked.

Mystique and Magneto looked over at the other teen. "This dorky-looking helmet is the only thing that's gonna protect me from the real bad-guys." He responded. He raised his hand and John's lighter came flying to his hand. "What's your name?"

"John."

"What's your real name John?" Magneto queried flicking the lighter on.

John raised his hand and the flame jumped into it. John held it there studying it before saying, "Pyro."

"Quite a talent you have there, Pyro."

"I can only manipulate the fire. I can't create it." He said snuffing the flame out in his hand.

"You are a god among insects." Magneto said. "Never let anyone tell you different." He held the lighter out for John to take.

John was silent for the rest of the flight.

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The sergeant walked into the security room where Stryker and Yuriko were watching a monitor. "Sir, the machine has been completed to all specifications." He reported standing at attention.

"Good." Stryker replied his eyes never leaving the monitor where three mutant children were in a cell. One touched the wall only to receive an electric jolt. "Ow!"

"If I may ask, sir, why are we keeping children here?" the sergeant asked.

"I'm a scientist, Sergeant Lyman. When I build a machine, I wanna be sure that it's working." He replied still studying the miserable mutant children.

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"All right this is a topographic map of the dam." Storm said. "This is the spillway. You see these density changes in the terrain?" She said gesturing to a highlighted area on the map. "They're tire tracks."

"Dat's de entrance." Gambit stated.

"Mm-hmm. And this shows the depth of the ice that's covering the ground. Now this is recent water activity." Storm said gesturing to another highlighted section of the holographic map.

"If we go in there Stryker could flood the spillway." Hank said.

"Can you teleport inside?" Storm asked Nightcrawler.

"No. I have to be able to see where I'm going otherwise I could wind up inside a wall." He replied.

"Harry? Hank?" Storm asked.

Hank shook his head.

Harry paused thinking. "No it would be too difficult and I have no idea where anything is even if I did make it in." _Not to mention if any muggle saw me it could be considered a breach of the Statue of Secrecy. _

"I'll go. Stryker probably still wants to keep me alive after all that's happened." Logan said smirking.

"Wolverine, whoever goes into the dam needs to be able to operate the spillway mechanism. What do you intend to do? Scratch it with your claws?" He asked mockingly.

Harry raised an eyebrow. This Magneto guy had some serious issues.

"I'll take my chances." Logan growled out.

"But I won't." Magneto said.

_Merlin. Who died and made him leader? _Harry thought to himself.

Gambit chuckled softly at the irritated look on his wizard's face. Magneto had that effect on people.

He turned to look at Mystique who smirked at the gathered mutants.

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Logan walked along the walkway looking around for signs of soldiers.

In the security room, the guard on duty alerted Stryker. "Sir, there's someone coming down the spillway."

Stryker stood up from his chair and strode over to the monitors.

"I'm flooding it." The soldier said.

"Wait." Stryker commanded. He studied the monitor.

In the spillway, Logan came to a stop in front of the huge metal door. "Stryker!" He yelled.

"Well, look who has come back home." Stryker said smirking. He only hoped the Cajun thief came with him. The two perpetual thorns in his side would soon be dealt with.

Logan looked to the sides as he hidden doors in the stones slid open letting armed soldiers pour out, their weapons aimed at him.

"Move and you're dead." One of them said.

Two other guards approached him and shoved his arms into a weird metal contraption. Once his hands were bound, guns aimed at his head, did the huge metal door slide open. The soldiers walked him into the center of the hallway and Stryker strode into the hallway from another door.

He studied the cocky mutant standing surrounded by the soldiers before he turned to Sergeant Lyman and hissed, "The one thing I know better than anyone is my own work. Seal the room. Shoot it." He ordered before stalking out.

"Seal the room. Step away!" Sergeant Lyman ordered raising his gun.

Even as the other guards raised their guns Mystique had transformed, her slimmer wrists easily slipping free, as she attacked the guards. She used a couple of them as bullet shields before sliding through the closing door, flipping off Stryker as the doors closed in front of her.

The guard in the security room turned in his chair to see Stryker striding into the room another armed guard following him. "We have a metamorph loose. Could be anybody."

"Anybody?" The guard parroted studying the monitors.

'Stryker' knocked the guard behind him unconscious before slapping the guard in the chair with the butt of a rifle. He shut the door to the control room just as the real Stryker raced up with Yuriko and Sergeant Lyman in tow.

"Can you override the spillway mechanism?" Colonel Stryker questioned Lyman.

He shook his head. "Everything's controlled from inside that room. That's why the doors are so thick."

Stryker threw his hands in the air. "Oh, really? Get some charges! Blow the doors open!" He spun around frustrated. "Take out these cameras!" He said gesturing to the ones that allowed the security room to see outside the door.

Lyman shot the cameras, obedient to orders.

Inside the control room, Mystique paged the others in the jet. "I'm in."

"She's good." Logan commented in the jet.

"You have no idea." Magneto replied.

Mystique went to work on opening the spillway but her attention was caught by a monitor that showed the kidnapped kids freezing in their cell.

Outside the security room, the soldiers placed charges on the thick door. "Fire in the hole."

Mystique looked back towards the door alerted by the sound of the bomb going off.

"Move, move, move." The soldiers poured into the space between the two sets of doors, bringing in more charges.

Mystique turned around to the computer and finished the sequence that would open the spillway doors and allow the other mutants in.

In the space between the spillway and the rest of the base the soldiers looked around tense and ready to fight as the doors suddenly slid open when there was no warning they would be open and for whom.

The soldiers were surprised to see a thunderstorm brewing outside with a lot of lightning.

"Sergeant she's opened the spillway." One of the soldiers alerted Lyman.

"More mutants have entered the base?" Lyman questioned.

"How many?" Stryker demanded.

"We've lost coms. There's some sort of electrical interference…" The soldier trailed off as the lights flickered around them.

"Sergeant Lyman, gather the rest of your men and meet me outside Cerebro." Stryker ordered. The man hurried away to carry out his orders. "You carry on." Stryker ordered the two men still working on breaking into the security control room. "When I come back, I want this door open all the way!" The two men hurriedly resumed working on breaking open the inner door as Stryker stalked off.

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A/N: Whew! 10,000+ words. I think that's a record for me. Hope this extra long chapter makes up for the wait. Please leave me a review, it brightens my day!


	10. We were never friends, were we?

A/N: Here's the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and/or added this story as a favorite, it made my day.

I took the liberty of crafting Remy's past from the comics as they don't talk about his origins in the Wolverine movie. I had a hard time writing the battle scenes so I hope you enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: Once again I own nothing.

We were never friends were we?

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_Last time_

"_Sergeant Lyman, gather the rest of your men and meet me outside Cerebro." Stryker ordered. The man hurried away to carry out his orders. "You carry on." Stryker ordered the two men still working on breaking into the security control room. "When I come back, I want this door open all the way!" The two men hurriedly resumed working on breaking open the inner door as Stryker stalked off. _

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Xavier wheeled his wheelchair down a long metal hall, a barefoot mutant girl in a nightgown following close behind.

He stopped in front of a metal door where a laser from the retinal scanner examined his eye.

_Welcome Professor._ The computerized voice said as the metal doors slid open.

Xavier looked back at the girl.

"Don't leave me alone please." She pleaded.

"You can come inside." He said.

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In the room Stryker had built his modified Cerebro in, Hermione Granger stood guard over the two wheelchair-bound mutants. One was controlled by the other's mind and the controlling mutant was, in turn, controlled by the mind-control serum she had developed a while back.

Hermione smirked as she regarded the two mutants. She had always been the most brilliant witch at Hogwarts. And by developing this potion she had proved it, if only to herself. _I should have been number one in our graduating class. I deserved it but Perfect Potter always did have to have the limelight. _She thought viciously.

Oh yes, Perfect Potter. He always ruined everything. At first she really had considered him a good friend, and she had been a good friend in turn. But the witch also recalled the fiasco at the end of fifth year in the Ministry of Magic. That had opened her eyes to the attention-seeking and trouble-making brat that Potter really was. And she wasn't the only one to see him for what he really was. Ron had finally accepted the fact that his best mate was too concerned with being a hero and defeating the Dark Lord, to get the fame, that he didn't care a fig about his best friends' safety.

Hermione frowned. She and Ron had discussed what to do about Potter all throughout the summer, in between making out of course. At first they had just considered severing the friendship and not associating with him anymore. But the more the talked the more a better plan developed. They knew that Harry would either have to kill the Dark Lord or be killed by him. The latter being the most likely outcome. So what they had decided to do was to pretend to continue being his friend and then once he had been killed, preferably after he had destroyed the Dark Lord, she and Ron would be able to play the grieving friends and reap all the benefits from being best friends with Saint Potter.  
On the other hand, if he did end up living, they were going to see that he got them positions in the Wizarding world that befitted their status as his best friends. She in the Ministry and Ron as either an Auror or a professional Quidditch player. He would marry Ginny, she would have his kids and they would end up slipping him some poison, or have him declared the next Dark Lord, to get him out of the picture. And Ginny would gain access to the Potter and Black fortunes as the beneficiary of his will.

Either way it would have been perfect if Potter hadn't disappeared taking that werewolf brat, the Veela, Loony Lovegood and that traitor Bill. All of their perfectly laid plans had gone to waste. Luckily though she had gotten a position in the ministry anyways, although not as high a one as she deserved, and had helped write and push through the Dark Creature Registration Act. She was incredibly proud of that fact. And Ron became an Auror, even though he shouldn't have had to go through that ridiculous amount of training when Potter should have gotten him promoted to full Auror status right away.

Well, that was all in the past and they were planning on getting their revenge, starting with the werewolf brat in one of the back rooms.

She continued to study the two mutants and wondered what illusions Jason was creating in Charles Xavier's mind.

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Xavier rolled into the room containing Cerebro with the young girl close behind.

The doors slid shut behind them.

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In the security and control room Mystique was busily typing away when a loud creaking sound caused her to whirl around in her chair.

She stood up, prepared to fight her way out when a loud explosion made her flinch.  
The heavy metal door to the security room floated backwards and Mystique smirked.

The door dropped to the ground revealing Magneto and the other mutants.

Jean used her telekinesis to slam the two guards into the wall behind her, effectively knocking them unconscious.

"Have you found it?" Magneto asked striding into the room.

"A large portion of the energy from the dam has been diverted to this chamber." Mystique replied gesturing to a highlighted area on the monitor.

"Cerebro." Hank breathed.

"There it is." Magneto said quietly.

"Can ya shut it down from 'ere?" Gambit questioned.

"No." Mystique said after attempting to do so.

"Come there's little time." Magneto said turning around.

"Not without us." Jean said.

Magneto and Mystique exchanged glances.

"Oh my god. The children." Storm said her gaze caught by one of the monitors.

Luna looked at Kurt. "Kurt can take me there and we will get the kids safely back to the jet. "You're needed here." She said to Storm, the silvery haze retreating from her eyes.

"But…" Storm started to protest.

"Listen to her." Harry ordered his own gaze caught by another monitor and the red-head inside.

"Vhere are they?" Kurt questioned.

"They're being held in a cell one level down." Mystique replied after checking the map.

"And that room?" Harry asked pointing to the one with Ron in it.

"One level down and to the back." Mystique answered.

Harry's mouth tightened into a thin line. _It's time to end this ridiculous game Weasley._

"Storm, Hank you go with Mystique and Magneto to Cerebro while Kurt and Luna get the kids." Jean ordered. "Logan…."

"Cajun. I think we're going to have ourselves a little family reunion." Wolverine interrupted Jean pointing to a monitor that showed Stryker stalking away.

"Oooh. Remy love a family reunion." Determination lit up Gambit's eyes. "Remy got ta return da favors Stryker showed 'im at de Island." Gambit said thinking of the experiments Stryker had performed on him and some of the other mutant kids.

"Harry?" Jean questioned looking at the wizard with the glowing green eyes.

"I'm going to pay an old friend a visit. I'll meet you outside Cerebro." Harry said coldly.

"Good. I'll try to find Scott and the Professor." Jean said as Kurt and Luna disappeared and the others left the room.

Gambit paused to kiss Harry deeply. "Be careful _mon petit._"

"You too." Harry said giving Gambit a quick kiss before he disappeared.

Gambit raced out of the room after Wolverine. They had a scientist to visit.

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"You set up a perimeter!" Sergeant Lyman ordered his men.

Stryker and Yuriko walked down the hallway through the armed guards to the thick metal door where Cerebro and Xavier were.

He punched in the code and walked into the room.

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Hermione was startled out of her plotting by the sound of the door opening. She had her wand out and a curse on her lips before she realized it was only Stryker entering. _When this is over that pompous ass is the first to go. _

"What's the matter?" She questioned the military colonel.

"There are mutants loose in the base. We need to step up the process. I want all of the mutants dead." Stryker growled at her.

"Very well." Was all Hermione said, but internally she rolled her eyes. The man couldn't do anything right!

"Imperio!" She shouted training her wand on Stryker's son. The mind-control potion, even though it was made with Jason's brain fluids, wasn't strong enough to control the illusionist. So Hermione used the Imperius curse, of which muggles and mutants, didn't have the ability to resist what so ever. She nodded to Stryker when she saw the mutant's eyes cloud over.

He leaned over the wheelchair back so his mouth was level with the mutant's ear.

"Jason." The blue and green eyes were alert waiting for the next order. "It's time. Time to find our friends." That insidious voice whispered.

To the side Hermione rolled her eyes. How melodramatic. Why in Merlin's name didn't he just have her Imperio Xavier to kill the other mutants? Honestly the man was pathetic. Luckily his usefulness was quickly coming to an end. If there were mutants in the base, out to rescue the professor no doubt, then Harry and his hero-complex self would be among them. Her revenge was so close she could almost taste it.

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The little girl stepped closer to the Professor. "Is it time to find our friends?" She asked quietly. "All of them? All of the mutants? Everywhere?" She questioned even as Stryker said the words into Jason's ear.

"That's right." Xavier replied.

"Every one of them?" She repeated the question.

"Oh yes." Xavier answered.

"Good."

"It's time to bring this to an end. Make me proud." Stryker said to Jason.

"Keep an eye on them." Stryker ordered Hermione before stalking out of the room.

_This could be interesting to watch. _"Legilmency!" Hermione called out and found herself in Jason's mind watching the illusion proceed.

Stryker entered the password into the control box on the side locking in the room two soon-to-be-dead mutants and a witch who had outlived her usefulness.

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The little girl watched the Professor pick up the helmet and place it on his head.

"Just don't move." He informed the girl before concentrating his telepathy into activating Cerebro.

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Stryker turned to Sergeant Lyman. "Kill anyone who approaches….even if it's me."

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Magneto and Mystique were walking side by side down the hall, Storm and Beast close on their heels. Behind them Jean furrowed her brow in worry. Something wasn't right. Sensing a threat she used her telekinesis to knock the other four mutants to the ground, just in time to avoid a laser blast from Cyclops.

"Go! I'll take care of him!" Jean shouted at the other four.

"This is one lover's quarrel we cannot get involved in, my dear." Magneto muttered to Mystique as they got to their feet, Storm and Beast right behind them.

"Be careful Jean." Storm warned before hurrying down the hall.

Jean got to her feet and ran down the side passage using her telekinesis to knock Cyclops backwards and into the wall before he fell down to the ground below.

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"Help us! Anybody!" the children's screams echoed through the basement floor.

"Listen." Luna said.

"Help! Get us out of here!" they cried.

"Kids. It's Luna. We're going to get you out of here so the vicious Snorlacks don't get ahold of you." Luna said.

There was a whoosh and Kurt appeared in the cell, a trail of blue smoke floating around.

The children jumped back startled by his demonic yellow eyes, blue skin and tail.

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Harry stalked down the corridor. He could vaguely hear kids shouting, but he had to trust that Luna and Kurt would get them out safely.

He was glad that Mystique was able to locate Weasley's whereabouts, but he didn't need directions now that he could feel his son's magic.

Harry slipped his wand out of the holster on his arm. He couldn't remember if he had ever told Ron that Professor Snape had been training him in wandless magic. If he hadn't then it would be his secret weapon and if he had, well, Ron still didn't know about his mutant abilities.

Harry flattened himself against the wall and risked a peek around the corner into the open door of the room the two wizards were in.

"Don't worry you pathetic werewolf brat. I'm sure your heroic dad will be here any minute ready to protect you. But let's see how he likes being injected with this mind-controlling potion that your Aunt Mione invented. Then we'll see just how powerful the almighty Savior is." Ron cooed menacingly to Teddy who only stared wide-eyed at the slightly insane redhead.

Outside the door Harry tightened his hands into tightly clenched fists. Well, that explained how mutants like Magneto and Nightcrawler had been controlled by someone who didn't have an ability of his own. Hermione had always been smart, but he didn't think she would help a crazed scientist destroy a group of people in her quest for imaginary revenge. He had given these people everything and this was how he had been repaid! Betrayal, kidnapping and a plot to destroy the life he had worked so hard to build. Well, Harry was no one's puppet and he certainly wasn't going to let a jealous ex-classmate ruin his life.

So he gathered his magic and cast a wandless, non-verbal shielding spell over Teddy before using Jean's ability to grab the vial of serum and let it shatter on the floor. And the moment Ron spun around, startled, Harry was on his feet racing through the doorway, an Expelliarmus spell rolling off his lips. Ron's wand was flung backwards and hit the wall with a thud, but Ron had pulled out his secondary wand and retaliated with a shouted, "Crucio!"

Harry dodged the spell and ducked behind some machines. "What's wrong Weasley! Upset that your little plan to control me isn't going to work? Or should I say Hermione's plan? You always were just a dumb sheep that followed her every word with no thought of your own!" Harry taunted the temperamental redhead.

"Come out here and fight like a man Potter! You always thought you were so much better than the rest of us, but I'll show you that I should have been the hero!" Ron raged as he threw shattering hexes at the machines Harry was using for cover.

But Harry had anticipated Ron's frontal assault and was already on the move firing off several slightly darker hexes at the other man.

He knew at least one hit its mark by the pained cry from the redhead and just barely avoided getting hit by one of Ron's curses. He didn't want to kill the other man, but he wasn't sure he could let him live and chance that the other man might attack Teddy.

Harry paused a moment to run through his options. The redhead didn't really care about attacking Teddy as he was more focused on defeating Harry himself. The shield around Teddy would keep him safe from any stray or rebounding spells and since the pen he was in was against the back wall Harry only had to keep Ron's attention firmly centered on himself.

Satisfied, Harry leapt to his feet¸ wand in hand. "What's the matter Weasley? Did you get sub-par Auror training because you were no longer best friends with the Savior?" Harry taunted as he shot three stinging hexes at the youngest male Weasley.

"Fuck you Potter! You ruined everything. You put my family through hell just so you could get the fame from defeating the Dark Lord!" Ron screamed, flinging out blasting curse after blasting curse at the general area where Harry was crouched.

"Even now that he's dead you can't even say Voldemort's name! How in Merlin's name are you going to defeat Voldemort's defeater if you can't even say his name?" Harry taunted as darted out from his cover flinging a bone shattering curse at his ex-best mate.

Harry dodged Ron's retaliating blood-boiling curse and continued his taunt. "And your family was considered to be blood traitors for supporting Dumbledore and being muggle-lovers. Voldemort and his Death Eaters were going after you anyways. At least with me around you all weren't slaughtered like sheep in a slaughterhouse the moment he attacked!"

"You know what Potter you weren't so high and mighty when you were sniffling over Cedric's and Sirius' death. And you're certainly not going to be when you're crying over the werewolf brat's body!" Ron cried out as he flung, not a spell, but a knife at Teddy sitting in the pen, watching his daddy.

Harry froze in horror for a moment before he focused on Jean and her ability to freeze the knife in mid-air.

Ron stared at the immobile knife in confusion even as his Harry's grip on his magic slipped and the whole military base and even the dam shook under the power of his rage-fuelled magic.

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Wolverine and Gambit walked through the winding corridors keeping a sharp eye out for Stryker and his assistant when they felt the shock wave of power.

"What was that?" Logan asked as the two men picked up their pace.

Gambit didn't reply as he was thinking back to last night in the forest and how Harry's magic had exploded under emotional duress. He hoped his soul-mate was alright.

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"Scott!" Jean called out as she scanned the empty areas between the equipment for any sign of her brain-washed lover.

She advanced cautiously, scanning from side to side, keeping eyes and ears open for a sound that would betray Scott's location.

A footstep and the sound of Cyclop's power being released alerted her just in time for her to throw her hands up, focusing her telekinesis into pushing back Cyclops' optic blast.

The force of his blast and him moving forward pushed her backwards. "Scott, don't do this!" She shouted trying to reason with the other mutant. She didn't want to hurt him!

She reached inside herself for that well where her telekinesis lived and drew as much of it out as she could. But it wasn't enough! She needed more-

Her eyes snapped open, fiery flames flickered to life in her eyes and she bared her teeth, focusing on gathering that power and slamming it into Cyclops' blast. The surge of energy flung Scott backwards and the shockwave reverberated throughout the base, causing structural damage to the dam itself.

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In one corridor Stryker paused looking around as he tried to determine what had caused the very foundations of the base to shake for the second time. And like the first time he blamed those damn mutants. "No matter, they'll be dead soon." He murmured to himself before continuing down the corridor.

He paused again after only a few steps to remove his glasses. There were water droplets on the lenses. The ceiling was leaking!

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Jean lay on the ground behind a piece of fallen machinery, her leg lying at an unnatural angle.

Scott strode over towards her and she cried out as he knelt next to her.

"Jean, no, no, no. It's okay. It's me." He said placing a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

"Scott." She breathed out in a combination of pain and relief.

"I'm so sorry." Scott apologized softly as Jean threw her arms around his neck and he hugged her close.

"I thought I'd lost you." Jean breathed into his ear.

"Oh, God." Scott sighed kissing her. "I'm so sorry. I could see you, but I couldn't stop myself. I tried, I'm so sorry." Scott apologized.

"I love you so much." Jean replied, running her hands through his hair.

"I love you." Scott answered moving to stand up.

"Ahhh!" Jean cried out in pain. "My leg."

"Okay, easy. Easy." Scott said as he wrapped his arms around her waist to help her up only to stop at her tone of voice.

"Scott….something's wrong."

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Stryker hurried to a wall of gauges to monitor and regulate the water pressure in the dam. "My God. No!" He cried out as he saw the spike in pressure.

He hurried off, Yuriko following as faithfully as ever.

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"Have you found the mutants yet? Have you found all of them?" The little girl questioned the professor.

"I'm trying. There are so many of them." Xavier replied, voice reflecting the strain the search was taking on his mind.

"Then concentrate. Concentrate."

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A rumbling and bubbling noise caught Gambit and Wolverine's attention. They walked down the steps into a room out of some sci-fi novel or a medical horror story. A tank with a greenish-colored liquid caught Logan's attention while Gambit focused on the numerous X-ray photos lining the lit-wall.

Logan walked over to the cauldron that held a bubbling, liquid metal.

"Is dis where Stryker injected ya wit' de metal?" Gambit asked softly.

"Yeah." Logan replied just as softly, remembering how they had injected the liquid metal through several red-hot and painful needle-like drills.

"The tricky thing about adamantium is that if you ever manage to process its raw, liquid form, you gotta keep it that way. Keep it hot. Because once the metal cools, it's indestructible." Stryker said as he watched the two mutants from the top of the stairs. "It's rather like coming home isn't it. You two were the ones that gave me the most trouble in all the years I've been working with mutants." Stryker said as he moved across the room.

The two men said nothing keeping a wary eye on the man that had caused them so much grief.

"I used to think you were just another street rat, Gambit. And I used to think you were one of a kind, Wolverine." He paused at the top of the stairs. "I was wrong about you both."

Snarling, Logan raced towards Stryker intending to get revenge, but Yuriko surprised him, spinning her leg around and slamming it into his chest, sending him flying backwards.

Gambit gripped his staff in one hand and drew out a couple of playing cards from his pocket. "'bout time t'ings got interesting 'round 'ere." He said grinning demonically.

"Have at it Cajun." Logan grumbled getting to his feet. He hadn't expected Stryker to have a mutant assistant.

The three thick metal claws on each hand gave off a _snickt_! sound as they were unsheathed.

Yuriko smirked as she brought up her hands, her finger nails extending into ten spear-like metal claws.

"Holy shit." Wolverine breathed out.

"Remy wonderin' where de hell we gonna find some nail clippers big enough." Gambit said as he charged up three of his playing cards and let them fly at the woman.

She dodged the explosions, but it put her close enough to Logan that he grabbed her calf and spun her around, flinging her backwards.  
Gambit started forward ready to back up the other mutant, but stopped at Logan's words.

"Go deal with Stryker. I've got this bitch."

Gambit hesitated a moment.

"Go!" Logan ordered gruffly as Yuriko got to her feet.

Gambit raced out the door after the colonel.

"Let's dance." Logan growled menacingly at the other woman.

Smirking, she raced forward, spinning around like a tornado, nails slashing Logan across the face.

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Gambit blew up the door that Stryker went through and raced after him.

Stryker looked behind himself, surprised to see that damn Cajun following him! This proved that mutants couldn't do anything right!

He picked up his pace trying to outrun an angry mutant with a grudge.

"Oof!" Stryker cried out as he fell, face first onto the floor, tripped by one of Gambit's kinetically charged playing cards.

Stryker was forced over onto his back and found that the glowing butt of Remy's staff was pressing into his neck.

"What are you going to do to me? Kill me?" Stryker asked, almost daring the Cajun to.

"Ah should fo' what ya've done ta me 'n de ot'ers." Came the reply as the staff was pressed just a little bit harder into his neck.

"Well, I wouldn't be the first one you've killed. After all you did destroy your family because of your mutant abilities." Stryker taunted secure in his persuasive and manipulative abilities.

"Funny ya should mention de word family 'cuz dat be part o' de reason Remy want ta see ya punished."

"Oh and what does your dead brother have to do with me?" Stryker asked.

"Nah dat be in de past. What Remy talkin' 'bout is when ya kidnapped _ma cheri's_ son from de mansion."

"Ahhh the child. Actually I really don't know what's become of him. I was supposed to kidnap him for some people who wanted revenge on the child's father. In return, they gave me access to the serum that controlled your mutant friends." Stryker said. "I'm sure the boy is fine Gambit. But don't you think you should walk away from them. I mean you've already destroyed one family, why should the second one be any different?" Stryker asked condescendingly.

Gambit was silent for a long time. Neither man moved from his position: Stryker prone on the ground, a glowing staff pressed against his throat and Gambit crouched over the man, eyes glowing the same bright red as the staff.

"Dis time it be different 'cuz Remy t'ink 'e would die wit'out his _cheri_ 'n _le garçon._ 'N right now Remy be done wit' ya 'n ya plottin'" Remy said.

_CRACK!_

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Logan snarled as he coughed up blood due to the adamantium claws buried in his back and stomach. This was just great! Two mutants with adamantium claws and regenerative abilities. How the hell was he supposed to finish this bitch off?

He flung his arms out, claws slicing through the chains that held the platform up letting it, and Yuriko, crash into the tank.

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In the jet, the three teens were sitting in silence worried for their teachers and friends.

"Do you think they're okay?" Rogue asked softly.

"They have to be." Bobby said as reassuringly as he could.

John opened his mouth to say something, but was startled into silence by a popping sound and then Harry appeared in the jet.

"Harry!" they all cried out at once.

Glowing green eyes stared up at them, blood dripping from a cut on his forehead.

"Are you okay?" Rogue asked timidly.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He replied before dropping one bundle he carried on the floor and shifting the other bundle on his hip.

"You got Teddy back!" John cried out, happy that both his more-than-likely family members were safe.

Harry smiled before passing Teddy to John who cradled him carefully.

"I know it's hard for you guys not to be in on the action, but I need your help." Harry said.

The three teens nodded, ready to help the other man in any way.

"I know you're not trained for fighting, but you shouldn't have a problem keeping an eye on this piece of trash." Harry growled nudging the bundle harshly with his foot.

Bobby and Rogue gasped when they realized the bundle was actually a man!

"Who is he?" Rogue asked.

"The bastard that kidnapped Teddy and hurt Gambit, Logan and Hank. He's unconscious for now, but I want him alive which is why I brought him back here. You three are strong enough to keep him under control and Teddy safe while I go deal with his partner-in-crime. The three of us have a history together and I want to be the one to make sure that they don't hurt anyone else." Harry growled out thinking back on their long shared history.

"We'll keep Teddy safe and make sure he doesn't escape." John promised solemnly.

"Good." Harry nodded. He reached into Ron's pocket and pulled out the second wand. He took that one and the other wand and snapped them both in half.

When Harry snapped the wands the man on the floor arched up, letting out a silent scream before falling back to the ground, unconscious.

"What was that for?" Bobby asked cautiously.

"So the bastard can't do any magic. I know he's not powerful enough to do wandless magic so you don't have to worry about him attacking you." Harry assured.

"How are the others?" Rogue asked when Harry looked like he was about to leave.

"The last I saw they were fine. But I'm going to go back and make sure they stay that way." Harry said before Apparating away.

"Rogue, help me tie him up." Bobby said dragging the man to one of the seats as John watched, cooing to a quiet Teddy.

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Luna linked her arms through two of the captured kids while Kurt did the same with the other two.

"Back to the jet?" Kurt questioned the blonde.

"Back to the jet." Luna confirmed, the soft pop that signaled Apparition trailing her words.

Bluish-black smoke drifted lazily through the room after Kurt and the other two kids disappeared.

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Logan rolled off of Yuriko's claws, coughing up blood. His respite was short lived however as Yuriko burst out of the tank like a hell-spawned demon, slamming her adamantium nails into Logan's back.

Crying out in pain Logan's eyes fell upon the adamantium reservoir and the nozzle attached to it.

Gathering all his strength he lunged forward and grabbed the nozzle before turning it around and plunging it into Yuriko's stomach.

Yuriko shuddered in shock and pain as the liquid adamantium flooded her body.

Logan watched in stunned horror as she jerked back once, silvery liquid metal oozing from the corners of her eyes, mouth and nose. He glanced away saddened and horrified by what he had to do to survive even as Yuriko slipped away, dead, landing with a thud at the bottom of the water-filled chamber where, years ago, he had been injected with the same metal that caused Yuriko's death.

Logan let his head fall back in pain and tried to catch his breath. He might have preternatural healing abilities, but that didn't take away the pain brought on by multiple and, in anyone else—fatal, stabbings.

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"Find all the mutants." The girl whispered to Xavier as the map lit up with the red dots indicating the presence of a mutant. "Find them. Find all the mutants. Find them all. Each one. All of them."

As Xavier concentrated harder, the girl smiled.

"Good. Kill them."

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Outside of Cerebro the soldiers went on high alert as a sound betrayed the approach of a potential threat.

The soldiers were surprised and alarmed to find that the pins on their hand grenades were flying off pulled away by some unknown force. They scrambled frantically, trying to stop the inevitable.

Explosions and screaming erupted before everything fell silent.

The metal pins made a clanking sound as they hit the ground next to Magneto's feet.

"Was that really necessary?" Hank asked as they stepped up to the huge metal door guarding the entrance to Stryker's Cerebro.

"Not really. But it was so much easier than taking them down one by one." Came Magneto's dry and unapologetic reply.

Storm shook her head.

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"Need some 'elp?" Gambit drawled from the door above leading into the experimentation room.

"Not a chance Cajun. What happened to Stryker?" Logan questioned as he leapt up from his reclining position.

"Dear ol' dad is a bit tied up right now 'n 'e won' be able ta come 'n 'ang out wit' us." Gambit replied smirking.

"You're something else Cajun." Logan said shaking his head. "Let's go find the others."

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Magneto placed his metal helmet on his head and stepped up to the door. Mystique glanced at him worriedly while Storm and Hank prayed they would be able to get to the Professor in time.

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"Concentrate. Concentrate harder." The girl whispered insidiously to Xavier.

In the back of his mind, a small voice warned the Professor that he shouldn't be doing this, that he could kill all of the people he had worked so hard to protect. _What was he doing?_

"Now, find them all. Find the mutants."

_Oh, yes. He was trying to find the rest of the students from the mansion. He hoped they were safe. _

"Kill them. Kill them all. _Kill them._"

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Jean and Scott were hurrying as fast as they could when Jean suddenly cried out in surprise. "Cerebro." She gasped out. "We're too late."

A second later the two collapsed to the ground, holding their heads and screaming in pain.

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Mystique collapsed to the floor screaming, causing Magneto to whirl around in surprise. His mouth tightened into a grim line. _It was time to finish this nonsense._

Storm and Hank also collapsed to the ground, but Hank wasn't in pain anywhere near as bad as the others. He could feel the Occulmency barriers that the goblins had carefully crafted inside his mind to protect the wizarding world's secrets, bearing up under the assault of the Professor's mind. Hank wasn't sure how much longer they were going to hold up, but he prayed that Magneto would be able to get into the chamber soon.

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On the plane the three teens collapsed in agony, Teddy sitting on the floor crying in fear while an unconscious Ron was oblivious to everything.

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Logan and Gambit collapsed to the ground, screaming in agony.

"Mah _cheri._" Gambit breathed out through the pain.

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Even with his extremely powerful ability to control metal, it took what seemed like an eternity before Magneto was able to disrupt the metallic panels that made up Cerebro.

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Xavier looked around in surprise when the glowing map disappeared and Cerebro automatically shut itself down. "That's strange." Xavier said examining the panel in front of him.

Behind him the young girl started breathing heavily and looked around the room in shock.

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Hermione frowned. She felt the power from outside the door and saw how it disrupted the machine that the mutant professor was using.

She concentrated her magic on the figure outside the door. Was it Harry?

When that distinctive magical signature didn't appear she relaxed. It must be those ridiculous mutants coming to rescue their beloved professor.

Hermione scowled. She really didn't feel like bothering with whoever was going to come through that door if it wasn't Saint Potter.

Besides if Stryker couldn't do anything right then she wasn't going to risk her hide to save his pathetic little scheme of wiping out mutants. She had more important things to do. Like destroying the next Dark Lord. Once she showed the Ministry Potter's dead body she would be promoted to a rank befitting her abilities and fame and riches heaped on her and her husband. If Potter wouldn't help them by living then by Merlin he would help them with his death!

Quickly she cast a Cloaking spell over herself and a strong Notice-Me Not spell, just to be on the safe side. She didn't sense Potter, but there was another magical presence outside the door and it wouldn't do at all to get wrapped up in a duel.

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With an imperious gesture the metallic doors to Cerebro slid open and Magneto strode into the room.

He paused to look down at the wheelchair-bound Jason.

The bi-colored eyes glanced over at him intending to draw him into an illusion, but Magneto only tapped his helmet mockingly before continuing over to the still trapped Professor.

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Rogue and Bobby embraced on the jet, still shaken from their near death experience.

John shakily got to his feet and carefully checked over the infant he held in his arms for any injuries.

The three were startled again by a sharp cracking sound and a softer popping noise and John almost set Luna, Kurt and the four other mutant kids on fire when they appeared unexpectedly in the jet.

"Luna! Kurt! I'm so glad you're okay." Rogue said as she and Bobby disentangled themselves.

Luna offered the three teens a smile before she turned to the unconscious Ron and delivered a sharp kick to his calf.

The redhead grunted in pain but otherwise didn't wake up.

Bobby raised an eyebrow.

Luna shrugged. "He was infested with mischief-causing Sprites and a good kick is the only way to dispel them."

"How are Harry and the others?" John asked ignoring yet another display of oddity by the blonde witch.

"For the moment they're fine, but we need to get the jet closer to the base. The others are going to need a quick escape route."

"Do you even know how to fly the jet?" John questioned, skeptical.

"No, but what better time to learn." Luna said serenely as she seated herself in the pilot's chair.

Kurt crossed himself.

Rogue swallowed nervously.

Bobby buckled his seatbelt.

John wondered where wizards went when they died.

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Harry struggled to his feet. _Damn the Professor is one hell of a mutant._ His Occulmency barriers had held up under the strain of the attack, but it had been a constant struggle to keep moving towards the room where Cerebro and Hermione were under that relentless attack.

_Why did he stop all of a sudden? _Harry wondered as he took off at a run. _I have a bad feeling about this. _

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"How does it look from there, Charles? Still fighting the good fight?" Magneto asked the unresponsive Xavier. "From here, it doesn't look like their playing by your rules." He said condescendingly. "Maybe it's time to play by theirs."

He levitated himself above the walkway and concentrated his powers on the metal paneling. The panels rearranged themselves into a pattern known only to two people. One trapped in an illusion, and one with his own agenda.

"What is he doing?" Storm demanded as she stepped up behind Mystique.

The shape-shifter rolled her eyes and delivered a roundhouse kick to the white-haired weather mutant, knocking her out.

Hank sent off a slashing hex towards Mystique which hit her, but didn't stop her. She slammed him into the wall before she dropped to the ground in pain.

Eric lowered himself back down to the ground and looked at the blue-skinned woman.

Hissing, she drew herself up and morphed into the body of William Stryker. She approached the wheelchair and leaned in close to his ear. "There's been a change of plan."

Eric smirked as he watched Mystique manipulate Jason to do their bidding. Then his smirk disappeared and he turned back towards his old friend. "Good-bye Charles." He said patting the back of the man's wheelchair. He removed his cloak and handed it to Mystique who tied it tightly around her still bleeding side. There were no words needed between the two as they strode, side by side, out of the room.

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As soon as the doors to Cerebro slid shut Jason went to work manipulating his illusion so that Charles would do what Jason wanted.

"There's been a change of plans. Now find them. Find them all—the humans. Find all the humans. Every one."

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Logan stopped suddenly causing Gambit to run into his back.

"What was dat fo'?" Gambit asked crossly, rubbing his nose.

"I thought I heard water." Logan replied.

"So?"

"Like water from a dam." Logan growled out.

"Shit."

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_Well, that was interesting. I certainly hadn't expected that turn of events. _Hermione thought to herself. _Well, I suppose it doesn't really matter. I felt Harry's magical signature earlier and I know that he'll be here any minute, wand-drawn and ready to avenge his freaky friends. _

_In the end that's all that matters._

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"Find all the humans. Every one. Find them. Find all the humans. Find them all."

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Harry regarded the thick metal doors with suspicion. From the information he had pulled from Weasley's mind he knew that Hermione was guarding the Professor and the mind-controlling mutant. The mutant wouldn't be a problem as his Occulmency barriers were running at full strength.

The problem was Hermione. He knew that she wouldn't be easily taunted into making mistakes so what was the best way to disarm her?

He paused as an idea came to him. It was rather on the simple side and he would be vulnerable if she didn't react as planned. And he would need to use a lot of magical power which he was running low on because of the duel with Ron and then the strain of holding up his mental shields under the Professor's assault.

A noise made him spin around.

Scott approached supporting a limping Jean while Hank helped Storm up off of the floor.

"Are you okay?" Harry addressed the other mutants worriedly.

"We will be as soon as we get the Professor out." Storm replied.

"He's trapped in an illusion and….and oh my god." Jean breathed out as she focused her telepathic abilities.

"What?" Storm questioned.

"Magneto's reversed Cerebro. It's not targeting mutants anymore." Jean said in horror.

"Who is it targeting?" Harry asked.

"Everyone else."

"Shit. We've got to get in there and fast." Scott ordered.

"Okay. Well there's a witch in there that helped Stryker develop the mind-control serum. She and I have a score to settle. I can get Hank and Storm inside but you're on your own after that. I'll join you on the jet later, but don't wait up for me. Get the Professor and get out." Harry ordered.

The others nodded.

Harry closed his eyes and concentrated on his magic. He, once again, had Snape to thank for what he was about to do. The man might be a genius when it came to Potions, but his obsession with the Dark Arts and its Defense gave him incredible insight into the structure of spells and how to manipulate them.

Harry would never have even known it was possible to alter a spell. He had simply presumed that a spell did what it was supposed to and that it couldn't be changed in any form. But under Professor Snape's tutelage he had first learned to see magic, then how to analyze the structure of a particular spell and finally, just before the Final Battle, how to forcibly alter not only his own spells but also ones cast by other people. It had been incredibly challenging, but in the end, after a lot of difficulty, he had managed to do it. Snape was a very powerful wizard but Harry was one of the three most powerful wizards in the world and with Dumbledore and Voldemort dead he was the only wizard with the magical strength to force another's magic to his will. It was difficult even for him and it was one thing that he was glad he had never shared with his friends. He would never have been able to leave Britain alive if the Ministry found out about his abilities.

Harry pushed those grim thoughts aside and focused on Hermione's magical signature. They had spent so much time together that even 2 years apart and cloaking spells couldn't hide her magic from him. Concentrating Harry latched onto Hermione's magical core and gave a hard tug while simultaneously switching her with Hank and Storm. Not a moment later he concentrated on picturing where he wanted to go.

And with a pop Harry disappeared from the military base.

HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP-HP Stryker grunted in pain as he twisted his arms, trying to free them from the chains the Cajun had used to tie him to the helicopter base. _Just a few more minutes. There!_

Just as soon as he had freed one arm, Stryker clapped it to his forehead as a loud humming sound started in his mind.

"Impossible." He breathed out before the pain tripled.

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In the Oval Office, the President's bodyguards were writhing on the floor in pain.

The president was slumped in his chair oblivious to anything but the pain in his head.

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Hank and Storm appeared on the walkway in the chamber.

They looked around, surprised to see not the Professor, but instead a little girl in a white nightgown.

"Hello. What are you looking for?" She asked.

"Professor! Can you hear me?" Storm called out, ignoring the little girl. "You've got to stop Cerebro now."

"Who are you talking to?" the little girl asked confused.

"If we weren't in an illusion I would just Stupefy the other mutant, but I can't risk hitting the Professor." Hank murmured to Storm. "I would still risk it, but I don't know what would happen if the professor's mind was forcibly disconnected from Cerebro."

The girl seemed to realize that they weren't buying her little act. "I've got my eyes on you." She said eerily.

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Magneto and Mystique strode towards the helicopter and the whimpering man chained to it.

"Mr. Stryker." Magneto greeted. "Funny, we keep running into each other. Mark my words it will never happen again."

The metal chain tightened around Stryker's neck, choking him.

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"Hank, it's about to get very cold in here." Storm warned the other mutant.

Hank nodded and cast several Warming charms around them both.

Storm's eyes clouded over and a chilling wind started to blow in the chamber.

"What are you doing?" the girl asked scared.

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Mystique fiddled with the buttons on the helicopter's control panel getting it ready for takeoff.  
Magneto stared out the window as though he was waiting for someone to appear.

"The boy?" Mystique asked.

"It seems he's not going to appear. A pity. I had high hopes for that one." Magneto sighed. He laid a hand on her thigh. "Get us out of here my dear. I believe we have some catching up to do before we continue with our plans."

Mystique smiled and lifted the helicopter into the air. She couldn't wait.

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"Find all the humans. Kill them. Every single one. Find all the humans."

He was trying, but it was getting so cold.

"Focus. Focus. Find all the humans."

Jason panted heavily in his wheelchair. Frost was starting to form on his face.

"Stop it!" she screamed at Storm.

"Jason." The Professor breathed out.

"He's going to be so angry at me." The little girl cried.

She spun around, grabbed her head and screamed before she vanished.

The Professor panted harshly as he removed the helmet from his head, disconnecting Cerebro.

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Outside the door Jean and Scott hit the ground when water burst through the walls.

"Where are Logan and Gambit?" Jean asked worriedly.

"I don't know, but we better get out of here soon." Scott replied looking worriedly at the metal doors.

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Inside Cerebro the four mutants looked startled as the ceiling started to fall apart.

Quickly Hank Apparated Storm outside the door before Apparating back inside the chamber to grab the Professor.

Jason remained alone in his wheelchair on the walkway as the world fell down around him.

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"We have to get out through the spillway." Storm cried.

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Water was rushing through the spillway as Logan and Gambit raced through the base trying to save their friends.

They rushed up the walkway and were almost to the doors.

Gambit gathered his kinetic energy in his hand and slammed it into the control panel next to him.

The huge doors slid shut in front of the astonished X-Men.

"You don't want to go that way. Trust me." Logan said.

"Come on. Dere be 'nother way out o' 'ere." Gambit said as he and Logan turned back the way they came.

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"I'm impressed." Harry said as they landed in the forest clearing which he had destroyed not that long ago.

"With what?" Hermione snarled at her ex-best friend.

"The way you let me kidnap you. I mean you were the smartest witch in our class and you knew my reckless tendencies. I'm still amazed that you can read me like a book, but then again you were the brains and I was always the brawn, right?" Harry said.

Hermione was confused. She knew she hadn't transported either of them. For Merlin's sake she hadn't even sensed Harry's presence! But Harry seemed to think that _she_ was responsible for their Apparition….. "Being the brawn isn't exactly a bad thing Harry. After all the three of us were a team and we complemented each other." Hermione soothed. "We all had our parts to play in defeating the Dark Lord."

"Were is the key word though, right 'Mione?:"

"Well, you did run away from home and left Ron and me without a best friend and Ginny without a boyfriend." Hermione retorted gently.

"Ah yes. But Ginny was trying to drug me with love potions and you and Ron were only concerned with what you could get out of my fame. Does that sound familiar?" Harry asked sarcastically.

Hermione was irritated at the self-righteous prick. "Well, what did you expect Potter? You put us into dangerous situations year after year, almost getting us killed and you got the majority of Ron's family killed as well!" Hermione yelled at Harry.

"Oh and I supposed I held you at wandpoint and forced you to accompany me on all of those dangerous missions? In fact I recall insisting that you stay behind on several occasions. But you all insisted on tagging along anyways. And as for Ron's family….well, they were adults and could make their own choices. They were in the Order and the Weasleys were considered blood traitors they were at the top of Voldemort's hit list." Harry snapped back.

"Don't try to escape blame, Harry Potter! You were so wrapped up in defeating the Dark Lord that you didn't care what happened to the rest of us! You just wanted the fame so you could be a celebrity!" Hermione screamed.

"I had a Prophecy hanging over my head from the time I was a year and a half old that said I either had to kill or be killed. And then the entire Wizarding World placed all their hope on the shoulders of a teenager! A fucking teenager whom they never actually asked if he would save them all! I was either a hero or a psychotic teen depending on the day! Merlin be damned Hermione! All I wanted was a family and a normal life! But you and Ron are still so fucking convinced that I want fame! All I want is to be left alone!" Harry screamed.

The two ex-best friends stared at one another, in silence, for the longest time.

"You're right Harry. We never did ask you for what you wanted. And for that I'm sorry. So just come back home, Ginny promised to wait for you until you're ready to get married and then you can find a caring home for Remus' son so you guys can start your life together." Hermione replied adopting a conciliatory tone of voice.

Harry closed his eyes. Why couldn't anyone understand? "Dammit Hermione! You're not listening, again! Everyone expected me and Ginny to get together just like my parents and their storybook romance! But we aren't them and I changed Hermione! Ginny can't be what I need not after the war. Besides I've met the person who makes me happier than I've ever been and they aren't going to demand that I give Teddy away like an unwanted Christmas present!"

Hermione narrowed her eyes at the angry wizard standing across from her. "I see you're still just as selfish as ever." She said quietly.

"Yeah, well maybe I'm going to be selfish for the first time in my life." Harry replied softly.

"Stupefy!"

"Expelliarmus!"

The two enemies released spells at almost the exact same moment. Hermione might be a brilliant witch, but Harry had the raw power and the training to put it to good use.

It was over in less than a minute.

Harry looked at the unconscious witch and sighed. "I'm sorry Hermione."

He grabbed her arm and Apparated away.

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The X-Men hurried out the side door that Gambit led them to. They were anxious to get away from Alkali Lake before the dam flooded everything.

"Mon Dieu! De 'elicopter was right 'ere." Gambit cursed.

Everyone was scared. Then they heard a loud rumbling noise and the jet flew into sight.

It landed in front of their astonished eyes.

Everyone hurried towards the jet as the ramp opened.

Logan and Gambit paused, however, when they caught sight of Stryker chained to the ruins of a wall.

"Dat's not quite 'ow ah left 'im." Gambit muttered.

"Let him rot in hell. He won't be able to bother us or anyone else ever again." Logan said dismissively.

"Ah reckon ya be right."

"Let's get out of here."

And with that the two mutants left their pain to die with the man who caused it.

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"Luna?" Storm questioned surprised.

"It was a lot of fun flying the jet. I've never flown a plane before." The blonde chirped.

Scott looked at the three pale teens and the praying teleporter. "So I can tell." He said dryly as Luna vacated the pilot's chair. He took his seat while Storm seated herself in the co-pilot's chair.

"Who's the redhead?" Logan asked gesturing to the bound and unconscious man.

"Don't really know." Bobby replied.

"Harry popped in with him and Teddy. Said to keep him tied up till he got back." John replied.

The Professor looked towards Luna a question clearly written on his face.

"He's a traitor." Was all she said before seating herself next to Kurt on the bench. He wrapped his tail around her waist.

"Where is 'Arry?" Gambit asked worriedly.

"He should be here any second now." Luna said.

A popping sound had everyone looking back towards the cargo bay where Harry appeared with an unconscious woman in tow.

"Harry you're safe!" Rogue cried out.

"Yeah I'm fine." Harry said, though everyone could clearly see that he was not happy.

"When did you learn to teleport?" Xavier asked surprised.

"Er…it's a long story Professor. I'll have to catch you and Scott up to speed later." Harry replied, tying up the woman next to the redhead.

"Oh good you got her too. I figured she was the other one involved when I saw Weasley tied up. Where one is the other will be." Luna said. "It's the Blithering Humdingers that does that."

Everyone else looked confused while Harry just smiled. "Hopefully this will all be over soon." Harry said.

"Well, it won't be if we don't out of here a.s.a.p." Logan snarled, interrupting. "Can you two get this bird off the ground?"

Scott hit several buttons and flipped two switches. "Engaging power and we're ready for takeoff." He said.

He and Storm gently guided the plane off the ground and into the air just as the dam burst and water rushed out, destroying everything in its path.

"Scott, we've got to get to Washington. I fear this has gone beyond Alkali Lake." The professor said gravely.

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The President strode through the halls of the White House accompanied by his assistants and security guards. "Today I've been given an opportunity to shed light on recent occurrences from the attack that ended in this office—Good morning—to the unexplained phenomenon that swept the Earth nearly annihilating our way of life."

"Good morning Mr. President." One of the workers greeted the man.

"Do we like this word annihilating?" the President asked his assistant.

"Good morning." The President greeted the press and the others as he entered the Oval Office.

The photographers were snapping photos as the President seated himself behind his desk for the televised press conference.

The technical director approached the president. "Mr. President, we're live in five, four, three, two…." He trailed off as the camera light came on, signaling they were broadcasting.

"My fellow Americans, in this time of adversity we are being offered a moment—a moment to recognize a growing threat within our own population and take a unique role in the shape of human events."

Outside lightning flashed and the camera went blank.

"Did we lose the feed? Are we still live?" the president queried softly.

He looked around the room, shocked, when he saw that no one was moving and they all seemed to be frozen. He turned around in his chair to look out the window at the storm that had appeared out of nowhere.

It had been a sunny day with no hint of clouds in the sky, but all of a sudden menacing dark grey storm clouds covered the sky, thunder rumbled and lighting flashed.

The president turned back around in time for a flash of lightning to illuminate the strange new people who had appeared among the press.

"Good morning Mr. President." The bald-headed man in the wheelchair greeted.

The president started when he saw the blue-skinned man who had attacked him not that long ago. He started to rise from his chair in alarm.

"Please, don't be alarmed. We're not going to harm anyone." The man soothed.

"Who are you people?" the president questioned.

"We're mutants." Came the reply. "My name is Charles Xavier. Please, sit down."

"I'd rather stand." The president answered bravely.

"Rogue."

A girl with white streaks in her hair approached the president and laid a blue folder onto his desk.

"These files were taken from the private offices of William Stryker." The professor said.

The President studied the papers in the folder for a moment. "How did you get this?" He questioned.

"Well, let's just say I know a little girl who can walk through walls."

Logan smirked at that comment.

The President slowly sank down into his chair as he continued to read what the file contained. "I've never seen this information."

"I know." Xavier said.

"Then you also know I don't respond well to threats." He retorted.

"Mr. President, this is not a threat. This is an opportunity. There are forces in this world, both mutant and human alike who believe that a war is coming. You will see from those files that some have already tried to start one and there have been casualties. Losses on both sides." He said thinking about the soldiers and about Yuriko, whose only crime had been following orders while drugged.

Gambit recalled some of the mutants on the Island who hadn't survived the experiments Stryker performed. He knew there were a lot more mutants, himself and Logan included, who still bore the scars from those same experiments.

"Mr. President—what you are about to tell the world is true—this is a moment. A moment to repeat the mistakes of the past or to work together for a better future. We're here to stay, Mr. President. The next move is yours." Xavier said.

"We'll be watching." Hank said.

Thunder boomed and lightning flashed and when the storm cleared the mutants were gone.

The technical director checked the teleprompter to be sure it was working. "Mr. President." He whispered.

The president looked around the room for a long moment and then glanced down at the folder on his desk before folding his hands and looking at the camera.

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A/N: Wahoo a whopping 40 pages! Hope that makes up for the wait. As you can see I manipulated the ending of the movie a bit, but all for a good cause! Just one more chapter left to tie up some loose ends before the sequel which I have planned. Please review and let me know what you think! ~Dark Disaster.


	11. Politics

A/N: Here's the final chapter of A New Dawn. Hope you all enjoyed this and thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love reviews.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warning: Lots of political bashing and sexy slashy goodness. If any of that offends you: run away.

Politics

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_Last Time:_

"_Mr. President—what you are about to tell the world is true—this is a moment. A moment to repeat the mistakes of the past or to work together for a better future. We're here to stay, Mr. President. The next move is yours." Xavier said. _

"_We'll be watching." Hank said. _

_Thunder boomed and lightning flashed and when the storm cleared the mutants were gone. _

_The technical director checked the teleprompter to be sure it was working. "Mr. President." He whispered. _

_The president looked around the room for a long moment and then glanced down at the folder on his desk before folding his hands and looking at the camera. _

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After the meeting with the President, the X-Men were finally home. Luckily the mansion hadn't been damaged that much, but everyone had pitched in with the cleaning.

Also, thankfully, the Professor managed to track down the rest of the children who had escaped Stryker's clutches. None were worse for the wear fortunately.

"Harry, what are you planning to do with those two?" Professor Xavier gestured to the two bound and gagged Brits who glared daggers at him with their eyes.

"Bill is going to be here any minute and we're going to talk with the authorities about what we should do with them." Harry said as he descended the stairs in a dark green robe with golden embroidery around the hem. It was obvious he had just showered as his hair was still wet and for once it lay flat on his head. Teddy, balanced on Harry's hip, was dressed in a miniature version of Harry's robes and he was cuddled close, eyes closed.

"Why don't you just call the police?" Scott asked coming up to them.

"Oh, right. I still haven't got you told you what I've told the others. As soon as I finish with these fools we'll sit down with the others and have a nice long discussion." Harry promised.

Hank walked into the room Bill following the other mutant.

"Are you ready to go Harry? The others are expecting us."

"Yeah let's get out of here."

To Scott's and the Professor's surprise, Bill grabbed an arm of each of the bound Brits and vanished with a soft pop. A second pop and Harry was nowhere to be found.

"What…..?" Scott questioned stunned. "I thought Bill wasn't a mutant?"

Hank shrugged. "Don't worry Scott. We'll explain everything as soon as Harry takes care of some unfinished business."

Xavier frowned. Hank sounded like he knew more than he let on and for the first time Xavier was clueless. He definitely didn't like the feeling and would make sure that he got an explanation sooner or later.

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"Good afternoon Lord Potter-Black, Mr. Weasley. A pleasure to see you again." Alex Santoya, the Chief Advisor to the American Minister of Magic, greeted them as he entered the conference room in the New York branch of Gringotts.

"Good afternoon, sir." The two responded.

"Afternoon." The black-skinned man behind the Chief Advisor greeted.

"Afternoon Mr...?" Harry trailed off.

"Ah allow me to introduce myself. My name is Derek Lexington, Attorney General of the American Wizarding Government."

Bill's eyes widened. It always amazed him how Harry managed to gather powerful and influential people around him like flies to honey, just by being himself.

Harry looked to Bill for information. He still wasn't that knowledgeable about the American system of government.

Derek saw Harry's look of confusion and said, "I'm basically the government's lawyer. I prosecute the most prominent and politically sensitive of cases."

"Oh."

"The goblins have told us about the kidnapping of your son, the attack on your friends and your subsequent capture of Mr. and Mrs. Weasley here. Unlike in Britain the government here is well aware of the value of the goblins as partners and allies. And it seems you have gained their support as well." Alex Santoya said smiling at the flustered young man.

"And that is, in part, why am I here today." Derek spoke up. "With your permission I will represent you in your court case against Mr. and Mrs. Ron Weasley. I'll need you to deposit your memories into this Pensieve to review them and use them as evidence. From what I've heard already I believe that I can level charges of kidnapping of an American citizen, child endangerment, torture, conspiracy to murder and aiding and abetting a terrorist." He finished.

In the corner Ron and Hermione's eyes widened to the size of saucers. This was not how they pictured their plan finishing!

"How did you know I would want to press charges?" Harry asked the two government officials, eyes wide.

"You brought them here alive." Was Derek's response.

"Bill?" Harry questioned worriedly.

Bill studied his youngest brother and wondered where they went wrong. "He's an adult Harry. It's time he took some responsibility for his actions."

"There's actually one more thing that I want to talk to you about Lord Potter-Black. And it actually concerns the British." Derek said.  
"Oh and what is that?" Harry asked.

"Well, did you know that Mrs. Weasley here was actually the one to write and push through the Dark Creature Registration Act?" Alex Santoya asked gesturing to the bound witch.

"Somehow I'm not surprised." Came Harry's reply.

"Well, here is what I'm thinking and what I need from you." Derek continued.

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Harry was sitting in Remy's lap on the couch while Fleur was sitting on the floor playing toss the ball with Teddy. Xavier and the other X-Men were seated or standing around the room listening to Harry as he informed Xavier, Scott, Kurt and the others about the wizarding world.

This time Harry went in-depth into the reasons behind Voldemort's rise to power, his own role in the war, his years at Hogwarts and the Dark Creature Registration Act.

"So I understand all of what you've said, even though it's odd to think about a secret society, but what I want to know is why tell mutants if there is a Statue of Secrecy?" Xavier questioned.

"Well, the thing is the Wizarding government has been doing research into the gene which causes mutations in non-magical people. I'm not sure why they started investigating mutations, but what they've determined is that the X-gene and the magical cores of muggle-born witches and wizards are extremely similar, kind of like genetic cousins. While no one is entirely certain how magic evolves in non-pureblood families, the researchers theorize that the X-gene is basically a magical core that has concentrated itself around one or two abilities instead of allowing for spell-casting." Harry explained. "I'm assuming that the strength, type of mutation and how it manifests is a lot like magic, it depends on the person. I recall you saying, Professor, that mutation usually occurs at a young age. Most wizarding children display accidental magic throughout their childhood and when they are 11 they formally enter training for their abilities."

"That actually makes a lot of sense." The Professor said nodding his head slowly. Hank and Jean, as the resident scientists also nodded their agreement and looked even more interested in the conversation than before.

"Of course it's still unknown how magic manifests itself in a muggle-born so we're nowhere near certain about why a magical core would concentrate itself into a mutation." Bill added when it looked like the Professor might ask something.

Xavier nodded and then asked, "So what exactly does the wizarding government gain by exposing themselves to mutants? Most haven't come to terms with the fact that they are something not accepted by the general population let alone with the fact that magic and secret societies might exist."

"Well, for one thing the government wants access to scientists among the mutant population that could contribute to the research process without having to Obliviate them after a short time. Also the Department of Research wants to continue studying the X-gene and how it is related to the magical core. If they can figure out how magic evolves, in non-pureblood families, then maybe it will be possible to identify muggle-borns before they start showing signs of magic and possibly save a lot of them from abuse and mistreatment. If that happens then there is a high probability that mutants could also be found and saved as well." Harry said softly.

And everyone in that room knew that even if, for some reason, the Professor was against allying himself and the X-Men with wizards, then that last statement was enough to change his mind. For they all knew that the Professor had spent his life trying to protect mutants from the abuse by those who feared what they couldn't understand.

"This certainly won't be easy by any means." Bill cautioned. "There's still a lot of work to be done both in terms of research and in terms of integrating mutants in to the wizarding world and vice-versa."

But spurred by the hope that Harry and Bill's words had inspired, Xavier wasn't deterred. He had been working for mutant acceptance for his whole life what was a few more years in the long run?

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Cornelius Fudge looked up from some paperwork in irritation when two formally dressed wizards stalked into his office.

"Who the hell are you and what do you think you are doing barging into my office like this?" Fudge demanded.

"My name is Christopher Harkin, Assistant Attorney General of the United States and this is Alejandro Sanchez, the International Representative of the Council of the Americas." The man in the black and blue robes said coldly. Neither man offered a greeting.

Fudge was shaking. What could two of the most important Americans want with the British Minister of Magic? Relations with the American continents had never been extremely tight, but after the Dark Lord's first rise to power the Americans had been extremely critical of the policies and practices of the British government and distanced themselves until relations were tenuous at best.

"What do you want from me?" Fudge questioned.

"Actually we are here on behalf of the United States Government and on behalf of Lord Potter-Black." The cool voice of the Assistant Attorney General said.

"Potter! He's a dangerous criminal and you're harboring him on American soil?" Fudge exclaimed outraged.  
"For your information the United States is a sovereign nation and has the right to make decisions regarding whom to award political asylum and citizenship to." Alejandro Sanchez stated.

"Speaking of citizens, our first order of business is to tell you that two British citizens, and Ministry employees, are to be tried in the Supreme Wizarding Courts in the case the Attorney General vs. Weasley-Granger. They are charged with illegal entry into the country, kidnapping of an American citizen, child endangerment, torture, conspiracy to murder and aiding and abetting a terrorist plot. As British citizens they have the right to a British defense attorney and should you fail to provide one they will be provided with adequate representation as human rights laws demand."

Fudge could only sputter in outrage. "Weasley and Granger are important Ministry employees! You can't just go charging them with trumped up charges!" He cried out; face purple and spittle flying from the corners of his mouth.

"Well, if that's the way you feel we can also charge the British Ministry of Magic with conspiracy to commit murder and creating an international incident." The Assistant Attorney General said coolly. "Just think of what those kinds of charges would do to your reputation."

Fudge turned pale at the thought. "No, that really won't be necessary at all. Gentlemen, you said you had two reasons for being here. What else can I assist you with?" He asked, voice quavering.

Alejandro Sanchez smiled. "Well, you see Minister. In the past two years we've had an enormous influx of magical creatures into the Americas. We don't have a problem with magical creature immigration, but we've noticed that they've all come from the United Kingdom which worried the Council. After interviewing these recent immigrants it was determined that the cause of emigration from the Isles was the Dark Creature Registration Act. Now that didn't sit well with the Council of the Americas, but as Britain is a sovereign country we had no right to interfere. But luckily enough we found a way around that little political detail and found a solution that I believe will work much better."

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"Well?" Bill asked the Chief Advisor.

"Everything went as planned, Mr. Weasley, Lord Potter-Black. The articles have been published and hopefully we should see some change within the week." Alex Santoya responded. "Don't forget that the trial will be on Thursday."

Harry sighed. He wished things hadn't ended like this. "Will I have to give a statement?" He asked.

"Derek is positive that he has a solid case based on the Pensieve memories he collected, but it could still be a possibility. I wouldn't be surprised if the defense tries to call you to the stand to try and discredit you in the eyes of the judges." The Chief Advisor responded.

"I just want this to be over and done with. It would be nice if I could live my life without worrying about people who think I've wronged them somehow." Harry sighed.

Bill wrapped his arms around Harry's shoulders. "This will be over soon Harry and then we'll have a good life." He tried to reassure the weary young man.

Alex Santoya patted Harry's hand before excusing himself.

"Come on Harry. Let's do some shopping and get back home."

"Home." Harry said, thinking of red eyes and strong arms.

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"Guess what Teddy? Daddy's 'ome." Remy cooed to the squirming bundle in his arms.

"Daddy! Daddy!" The toddler squealed happily stretching his arms out for his father.

"Hey Teddy-bear! Did you and Remy have fun?" Harry questioned the toddler, gently tossing him in the air.

"'Emy! 'Emy!"

"We sat outside 'n read from de book, right Teddy?" Remy questioned the ecstatic toddler.

"Blue! 'ed! Gween!" Teddy squealed to his daddy's delight.

"Look at how smart you are Teddy-bear!" Harry praised the little boy, smothering him in kisses.

"'e can recognize all o' de colors 'n most o' de numbers too. 'e still can't pronounce some o' de words properly but ah t'ink 'e just like de way dey sound." Remy said wrapping his arms around his two wizards.

"You're still the smartest little boy in the world." Harry said beyond proud of his son.

Remy smiled indulgently at the two. He didn't have the best childhood and he knew he, and Harry, had grown up way too fast. He finally had a chance at the family he had always craved and would do whatever it took to give Teddy the childhood the two mutants never had. Teddy would be spoiled rotten and indulged as much as possible. He wouldn't try and correct pronunciation in order to make Teddy sound 'smart' or some other nonsense like that. Teddy would just be Teddy, with both the good and the bad.

"Who wants ta 'ear a story?" Remy questioned.

"Me!" Came two excited voices.

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As they lay in bed later that night Remy heard Harry sigh and burrow closer to his body. Remy tightened his arms around Harry. "What's wrong, _ma cheri_?"

"I'm just worried about the trial and everything else that's going on in Britain. What if nothing changes and everything we've gone through is for nothing?"

Remy placed a kiss on Harry's forehead. "Ya can't let dese t'ings bot'er ya _cheri_. De what if questions will drive ya crazy if ya dwell on dem fo' too long. Ah should know. All we can do is 'ope dat we'll be rewarded fo' what we've done. And hope dat maybe people aren't as passive as dey seem sometimes." Remy consoled his lover.

Harry snorted. His experience with British witches and wizards hadn't been the best so far.

Remy sighed and decided he would have to distract his wizard another way. He rolled over so that he was hovering over Harry. Quickly he removed Harry's shirt and took his time exploring Harry's chest and abs with his tongue.

Harry arched his back and wrapped his hands in Remy's shoulder-length hair as the Cajun worshipped his body. Merlin he couldn't believe how lucky he had been to get this incredibly sexy, and thoughtful, man for his own.

Remy smirked at the sexy moans his actions were causing in his lover. Moving lower he quickly removed both of their boxers before swallowing Harry's cock.

Harry let out a strangled half-moan-half-scream at Remy's action. "Mmmm…Remy."

Remy chuckled before fumbling in the nightstand drawer for the lube he stashed there earlier. He started to place kisses on the inside of Harry's thighs even as he gently slipped one lubed finger into Harry's entrance.

Harry threw his head back and pushed himself down on Remy's finger. "Don't stop. Feels so good." Harry moaned out.

"Don't worry _cheri _ah couldn't stop even if ah wanted ta." Gambit slipped another finger in and scissored them, opening Harry up as he went back to sucking on Harry's cock.

Harry too impatient to wait any longer, flipped them over, coated Remy's cock in lube and slammed himself down on that thick erection. He threw his head back and screamed. The pain/pleasure was exquisite and Harry couldn't get enough of it.

Gambit moaned and couldn't stop himself from thrusting up into the tight heat that was surrounding his cock. He reached his hands up to Harry's hips and helped the little minx ride his cock. "Ya're goin' ta have ta ride mah cock mo' often _cheri_ cause ya look hot on top o' me." He said.

Harry moaned at Gambit's slightly dirty words. He placed his hands on Remy's sculpted chest and worked to raise and lower himself, making sure that Remy's cock struck his sweet spot with every thrust.

Remy grinned at the reaction his words were causing. "Do ya like it when ah say dirty t'ings ta ya _cheri?_ 'bout how tight 'n hot ya feel 'round mah cock. 'ow ah like seein' ya eyes clouded wit' lust fo' me." Remy purred.

Harry only moaned in response before he surprised his lover by pulling off and getting on all fours, his ass raised invitingly.

Remy wasted no time in moving behind his lover and slamming his cock into that tiny rosebud, hips snapping furiously as he made sure to hit Harry's prostate with every stroke.

"Harder Remy! Harder!" Harry cried out, tears forming in the corner of his eyes at the red-eyed mutant's actions.

Remy was nothing if not an obliging lover and sped up his thrusts before snaking an arm around Harry's waist and stroking his cock.

Harry arched his head back and screamed as his vision turned white with ecstasy and he exploded over Remy's hand and the sheets.

Remy groaned as the muscles around his cock tightened painfully, but he managed to hold on through Harry's orgasm.

Harry moaned as Remy pulled his still erect cock out of his twitching entrance and rolled him over onto his back.

Remy slipped back inside his sated lover and began to thrust again, but this time at a slower pace. He leaned down to kiss Harry languidly.

Harry hungrily returned the kiss and under the steady assault on his body, he could feel his cock harden again. God he loved what his lover could do to him.

Remy could feel his orgasm approaching so he sped up his thrusts and strokes just in time for them both to fall over the edge: Remy filling Harry's clenching passage and Harry spilling himself in Remy's fist.

Remy collapsed on top of Harry before rolling to the side and spooning up behind Harry.

"Mmm. Not that I'm complaining, but what brought that on?" Harry asked contentedly.

"Ah don't need an excuse ta touch ya body, but ah figured ya could use a little reminder 'bout what de future holds when dis is behind us."

"I can't wait."

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"All rise."

Harry, Remy, Logan, Bill and Fleur all rose with the rest of the court's occupants as the nine Supreme Wizarding Court justices entered the courtroom from the small chamber where they had been deliberating the outcome of the case.

Harry grasped Remy's hand tightly and refused to look at the sullen faces of Ron and Hermione. It had been a long day and he was praying that the verdict would be one that would allow him and his family to live in peace. That was all he had ever wanted.

"Will the prosecution and the defendants please rise." The bailiff stated.

Derek Lexington, the Attorney General who was representing Harry, and Ron and Hermione and their lawyers stood before the panel of the nine Supreme Wizarding Court judges.

"In the case of the U.S. Attorney General vs. Weasley-Granger this court finds the accused guilty of all crimes." The Chief Justice read out the verdict. "The accused are found guilty on the first degree charges of kidnapping an American citizen, child endangerment, torture, conspiracy to murder, entering the country illegally and aiding and abetting a terrorist plot. As such the accused are sentenced to seventy years without chance of parole to be served in the Alcatraz Wizarding Prison. Court dismissed."

Harry hugged Remy. Finally it was over. He released Remy and stood nervously in front of Bill, who quickly pulled him into a hug.

"I already told you Harry. They are adults and should be able to take responsibility for their own actions. You're my baby brother and I want to make sure you and my nephew are safe." Bill whispered.

Harry closed his eyes tightly to ward off the threatening tears. This was his family and they were finally safe.

"Lord Potter-Black."

Harry stepped out of Bill's embrace and turned to face the Attorney General. "Sir, I can't tell you how thankful I am that you helped with this case." Harry said.

Derek chuckled. "It was my pleasure Lord Potter-Black. I hope you enjoy your freedom and I'm sure we'll meet again in the future." The man said before leaving the mutants and wizards to return home after a long day in court.

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"Ah Harry I'm so glad you all made it back." The Professor greeted from where he and Jean were waiting in the living room.

"I take it the verdict was positive?" Jean asked.

"Everything will be fine from now on." Harry said, unable to stop smiling.

"Well, I'm glad you made it back because you have a very anxious visitor waiting for you." Xavier said and before Harry could panic he gestured to the impatient snowy white owl sitting on the windowsill.

"Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed rushing over to his familiar.

Hedwig returned the greeting by harshly pecking the hand that reached out to pet her.

"Ow! Hedwig I'm sorry! I didn't mean to forget about you, but I'm glad you're back." Harry tried to placate the annoyed owl.

He got another round of pecking for his troubles.

"Ow! Hedwig I promise to make you crispy bacon and toast with strawberry jam!" Harry cried out.

The other mutants watched in surprise in as the owl looked like she was considering Harry's words.  
"Hoot?"

"Yes, yes for as long as you want." Harry replied to the owl's question.

The owl flew up and perched on Harry's shoulder and began preening his hair.

"'Arry _ma cheri_. Ya do realize dat ya just lost an argument ta an owl, right?" Gambit questioned his soul-mate.

"Yeah I know, but she's a stubborn little bugger." Harry replied as Luna untied the newspaper still attached to Hedwig's leg.

"Oh in that case it's okay to lose an argument to a bird." Logan stated dryly amused at the wizard.

"Hedwig's smarter than an average owl." Harry praised stubbornly. Hedwig preened under the praise as Luna started to read the Daily Prophet out loud.

**Scandal in the Ministry!**

By Susan Bones, Correspondent

Yesterday Minister Fudge was removed from a post which many people wonder how he got, and kept, in the first place. After a formal investigation by the Wizenmagot, of which Cornelius Fudge initiated, Fudge was impeached and sentenced to life in Azkaban based on a long list of corruption and scandalous actions through which Fudge and numerous Ministry employees used to remain in power. Additionally more than half of the highest-ranked political officials were also charged. (for a full list see p. 9) If you are wondering why now, well the answer is simple. A Wizarding Life Debt was called in. For those of you who don't know what this is, a Wizarding Life Debt is what one witch or wizard owes to another who has saved their life. Magic itself makes the debt and the debtor must pay back the debt however the savior wants, or lose their magic and sanity. As a result, Fudge had to reveal all of the actions he's taken over the years (for a full list of all crimes see p.11).

So who called in the Life Debt? Why none other than Harry Potter, the Savior of the Wizarding World. But wait he's the next Dark Lord—isn't he? Let's not forget that corrupt officials engaging in criminal activities were the ones accusing Lord Potter-Black of being a Dark Wizard and the future Dark Lord.

A letter from Mr. Potter to the Wizarding Community of Great Britain has been faithfully reproduced here:

_My fellow witches and wizards,_

_I write this with a heavy heart because all I want is a quiet life with what family and friends remain to me. In case you have forgotten it was three years ago that the students and staff of Hogwarts, the Order of the Phoenix, a handful of Aurors and myself engaged in an all-out battle against the Dark Lord Voldemort and his allies. Needless to say we won and I naively hoped that everything would be for the better. Two and a half years ago I left Great Britain to escape the prejudice and fear that still clouds the Isles. _

_Unfortunately I can no longer stand by and watch what I fought so hard, and lost so much, to protect fall apart. It is time to stop letting prejudice and fear rule our lives. Our society is based on tradition, which is an important link to our past. However, a traditional society that lacks change is a society without hope. I do not want to be a dictator, but I can't let our society crumble. So Great Britiain here's the choice that you never gave me: a new generation of leaders needs to rise up and fix the problems of the past or I will call in every Life Debt that is owed to me as the Savior of the Wizarding World. Wouldn't it be better to live in a world where everyone has a voice?_

_Purebloods: It's time to give back to the community instead of basing all your actions on the supposed superiority an unbroken bloodline confers on you. Ancestry can only grant you so many privileges before you become nothing but parasites. _

_Muggleborns: You are entering a world that isn't the one you were born in. Take the time to learn about the traditions and heritage of this world before you try and impose your views on it. _

_Half-bloods: You have the best of both worlds. Rooted in tradition yet having access to new ideas. Use that to your advantage and help bring about peace. _

_Let's preserve our heritage, but let's move forward. We owe it to the people who died defending our freedom, ourselves and our children._

_-Lord Potter-Black_

Well, Great Britain? I know I will fight for change and a better future. Will you join me?

Susan Bones, Daily Prophet Correspondent.

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"I'm so sorry Harry. I'm sorry for the burden we placed on your shoulders and the fact that none of us ever asked you what you wanted." Minerva McGonagall whispered softly as she hugged her all-time favorite pupil.

Harry returned the hug whole-heartedly. "You're forgiven, but only on the condition that you be Teddy's Godmother. He needs someone to watch out for him when he starts breaking all the rules when he goes to Hogwarts." Harry said.

Minerva pulled away from Harry and studied him. "If that's the case then I better start looking for a replacement Headmaster or Headmistress. There is no way in hell I'm going to be Headmistress when your son, and the son of a Marauder, goes to Hogwarts." The Scottish witch retorted.

Harry laughed and replied, "Whatever suits you Aunt Minnie."

"Aunt Minnie" cuffed Harry on the back of the head and said sternly, "Get in Hogwarts you brat. The castle is excited to have you back and I know Severus wants to have a word with you." But the soft grin belied her harsh words as she directed Harry towards the castle.

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"You incompetent moron! Even a first-year Gryffindor knows that if you add chopped, not diced, flobberworm to a Shrinking Potion you get the effects of a strong love potion! Are you trying to create an orgy in the classroom you dunderhead!"

Outside the Potions classroom Harry had to bite his fist and wrap the other arm around his stomach to keep from bursting into uncontrollable peals of laughter. It seemed that someone had adjusted well to being a portrait and was making a nuisance of himself. Harry really pitied the poor fool who thought he was a competent Potions teacher. The poor witch or wizard would end up in therapy at St. Mungo's for the rest of their life.

Luckily Harry didn't have to wait much longer for the potions class to empty and he spared a pitying look for the harried looking wizard that raced (albeit with dignity) out of the room before he entered what he had once thought of as hell on Earth.

"Hello Professor. I see you've managed to find something to amuse yourself with." Harry greeted the portrait.

Portrait-Snape glared at the still irritating brat before seating himself in the high-back armchair in his portrait. "I see you're still alive Potter. Are you making yourself a nuisance?" Snape snarked.

"As always." Came the cheeky reply.

Snape studied the young man in front of him. "Are you happy?" He had spent his life protecting the little brat in memory of his mother and he would be damned if that protection went to waste. However, he needn't have worried at the look of joy that came over Harry's face.

"I'm deliriously happy and I wanted to say thank-you. I know I was a precocious brat, but I can't tell you how much it meant to me that you never changed. You were always a right git towards me, but you always protected me. I know it didn't seem like it, but I always appreciated how you were the one person who never changed in your actions towards me. I think, in a way, that it helped keep me sane during those seven years at Hogwarts." Harry said softly.

Snape leaned back in his chair and studied the young man in front of him. "I wish things had been different and that we both could have led different lives. Maybe we both would have been a lot happier than we were. We have too long a history to be friends, but I'm glad that you are happy and safe." Snape said.

"I think you'd be surprised, but thanks all the same." Harry replied. "So how many Potions teachers have you driven up the wall?" He asked cheekily.

"Humph. This one is the sixth incompetent 'teacher' that we've had in the last four years. Merlin, why can't they find anyone qualified for the position?" Snape sneered.

Harry laughed. Some things never changed.

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Harry smiled as he headed out of the castle and onto the grounds leading to the lake. It had been four years since he had left England behind and two years since he had called in Fudge's Life Debt. And it had been a long two year struggle to rebuild Wizarding Britain.

But finally things were better, not perfect, but what society was? The Dark Creature Registration Act had been repealed and a new law, Magical Equality, had taken its place. Purebloods still held a lot of the same views as they did before, but things were better in terms of opportunity and treatment for muggleborns and half-bloods. The new government had even found ways of incorporating Squibs into the new society.

He had been formally invited to visit the new and improved Britain by the new Minister of Magic himself. Harry would admit that he had been stunned to find out that the new Minister was none other than Draco Malfoy.

But Harry had quickly found out that the Malfoy he remembered and this one were two completely different people. As Malfoy himself had said,

"_I want to make the Malfoy name mean something. To be associated with something other than fear and hatred. And I'm not ashamed to admit my mistakes as I work towards redeeming myself, Lord Potter-Black." _

And then he had extended his hand for Harry to shake. Harry hadn't hesitated to take the hand offered and just like that the two men had buried seven years of rivalry and hurtful words. Harry smiled bemusedly. Odd isn't it? How such a little gesture can change so much.

"Daddy!" 5-year old Teddy squealed from the edge of the lake. His little legs pumped furiously as they raced to meet his dad.

Harry, grinning, ran forward and scooped his son up from the ground and spun him in circles.

The little boy's shrieks of delight were music to Harry's ears and he grinned at his red-eyed mate who was calmly walking up to the pair from the lake edge.

"Did you have fun exploring Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"Yup. We had lots of fun." Teddy replied smiling brightly. "But Daddy, pay 'ttention cuz Papa has something 'mportant he wants ta ask you." Teddy scolded his daddy seriously.

Harry nodded and quickly wiped the happy smile off of his face before turning to Remy his eyes sparkling in merriment.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

"Did ya 'ave fun seein' de place where ya spent most o' ya life?" Remy questioned.

Harry nodded. "Yeah I did. There were a lot of good memories here and sometimes they even outweigh the bad."

Remy smiled and got down on one knee. "Den let me add one mo' good memory. Marry me?" He asked producing a small black box, which he opened to reveal a gold band threaded with tiny diamonds.

Harry gasped in shock, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "Yes! Yes! A hundred times yes! I will definitely marry you!"

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A/N: Well, that's it folks! I hope you enjoyed the story and the way it ended. *Grins nervously* Never fear though a sequel, with lots of juicy goodness, is in the works so there will be lots more action coming soon! Please leave me a review and let me know what you liked! ~Dark Disaster.


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